The Generous ways of the Lord

Homily for 25^th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A 2014

Isa 55:6-9 • Phil 1:20-24, 27 • Matthew 20:1-16

Introduction

Do you remember when you were in school and the teacher gave you group work or group projects?  And then perhaps, like me, you were the kid, who did all the work, but the whole group got the same grade, even the lazy kids.  Do you remember that feeling of injustice and outrage that you boiled within you, that those kids who worked less received the same grade as you?

Scripture and Theology

We can therefore understand how the workers in the gospel parable felt.  They had worked the whole day in the hot sun, and yet they were being paid the same as those workers who arrived at the eleventh hour.  For us human beings, such as a situation seems totally unjust and completely outrageous.

But then we heard in the first reading, the Lord saying: “my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways.”  In other words, is it possible that our feelings of injustice and outrage might be mistaken?

This parable that we have just heard shows how different God’s ways are from our ways.  Like the Master, God is not only just, but also generous.  The workers, men, are envious of the Lord’s generosity.  Let us look at the parable again.

The Master keeps his end of the agreement and so we can call him just.  He agreed to pay a day’s wage to each of the workers, let’s say $100 and at the end of the day he does exactly that; he pays them $100 each.  We call that justice: giving each person what they deserve, treating every person as they deserve.

But our God often does not treat us merely in the ways we deserve; he goes beyond justice and is generous to us.  In the parable we saw that the Master, paid the late arrivals, more than they deserved; he paid them a day’s wage, for less than a day’s work.   While this might seem unfair to us human beings, for God it was generosity.  These men were heads of families, and they probably needed a day’s wage to put feed their families.  “Give us this day our daily bread,” like we pray.  So, he still gives them what they need for their families. God is both just and generous.

But let us now look at the attitude of the workers.  While God is both just and generous, human beings are envious and jealous.  They are not concerned about justice, since in truth the Master was just to them; giving them what he owed them.  Their feelings of outrage begin when they think that they should get more than the others.  Their ways are not God’s ways.

This parable of Jesus was aimed at the Pharisees.  Like you and I felt outrage at the lazy kids in the group getting a good grade, the Pharisees also felt that it was unfair for Jesus to invite into God’s Kingdom sinners who had broken God’s law such as tax collectors and prostitutes and he was also inviting foreigners into the Kingdom, non-Jews who were considered unclean and unworthy and who did not even know God’s law, much less keep it.

With this parable Jesus teaches the Pharisees that God’s love is much more generous that their human love could ever imagine.  God has promised eternal life to those who do his will.  The Pharisees and all those who are faithful throughout their lives will receive eternal life.  Should they receive twice the amount of eternal life simply because they were faithful longer? That is nonsense.  Eternal life is eternal life.  There is no extra eternal life for doing good.

These workers who arrive late, represent those who come to the faith later, the sinners and gentiles.  But at the end, thankfully they turn to the Lord.  They too need eternal life.  So God gives it to them, not because they deserve it, but because God is generous.  After all eternal life is God’s to give.  God’s justice is often far more generous than our human understanding of justice.

I once read the story of a mobster called Dutch Schultz whose criminal enterprise flourished during Prohibition.  A son of Jewish immigrants, he carved out a life of crime for himself almost throughout his life. He was as brutal and murderous as mobsters come, perhaps as murderous as ISIS in Iraq and Syria today.  Then his life of crime caught up with him.  As he emerged from a restaurant one day, he was showered with a hail of bullets.

But before he died, he was taken to hospital where a priest came to him and explained the tenets of the Christian faith to him.  Dutch repented of his sins and asked to be baptised.  The priest baptised him and soon after that Dutch died.

You can imagine what an outcry there was about what this priest did.  For as Catholics we believe that baptism washes away all our sins and if somebody should die right after baptism, he will go straight to heaven.  And so, people were angry that Dutch got off so easily, that he found his way heaven so easily.  This was not fair to all those good Catholics who went to Mass Sunday after Sunday, who tried their best to keep all the commandments all their life long.  “Is this justice?” they asked?

But as we know, our ways are not the Lord’s ways.  The Lord chose to give Dutch the same reward he is giving us cradle Catholics.  That is his way!

Christian Life

But the Lord’s ways must become our ways.  Elsewhere in the gospels, Jesus teaches us to be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect.  Especially in this country, we have been raised to pull our own weight, to work hard in school and at our jobs, for a better life.  That is the true go-getter American spirit and there is nothing wrong with it, except that it is incomplete and imperfect.  We must add to this deep of sense of justice and hard work, the generous ways of the Lord.  We must change our ways so that we taken on the ways of the Lord.

We can start by examining our own lives and seeing how extremely generous God has been to us.  He has not paid us exactly what we deserve according to the human understanding of justice.  If he paid us only what we, who are sinners deserved, well, none of us would be here to tell of it. Sometimes when I praying privately and meditating on the Lord’s goodness to me, I realize that God has been extremely generous to me, especially through the various people he has put in my life.  Perhaps each of us feels the same generosity from the Lord.

In gratitude to the Lord’s generosity to us, we might want to extend the same generosity to others, a generosity that goes beyond justice.

I recently heard a story of a father whose son did something wrong that deserved punishment.  The punishment given was to do some chores, but that meant the son would miss the Saints Football game.  The father, in his generosity, decided to help the son with the chores, so that he would finish them quickly and together they would watch the second half of the game together.  This father method of punishment was both just and generous, like the Lord’s ways.

I also know of a family with three adult children; rather than split their inheritance among all three children equally, the children decided to give half to one child and let the other two split the other half.  Why?  Because this one daughter had really hit hard times and needed the money and the family home.  These siblings were not only just, but also generous, according to the ways of the Lord.

Conclusion

Throughout history we Christians have been known for our concern for the weakest members of our society, not because they deserve it, but because they need it.  And we do this because we try to be generous as the Lord who gives food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, welcome to the stranger, clothing to the naked clothing, care to the sick, visit to the prisoner, renewal and forgiveness to the sinner.  As we carry on this excellent care of the least deserving, may the generous ways of Lord also be our ways.

Am I my brother’s keeper?

Homily for 23^rd Sunday of Ordinary Time Year A 2014

Ezek 33:7-9 • Rom 13:8-10 • Matthew 18:15-20

Introduction

“Am I my brother’s keeper?”  This is the answer that Cain gave to the Lord, when he asked him where his brother Abel was.  With this response Cain denied responsibility for his brother.

That is why today, we also say: “Am I my brother’s keeper,” when we want to wash our hands off helping others, not just with their physical needs, but also with their spiritual needs.

Scripture and Theology

And yet in today’s readings, the Lord wants us to be our brother’s keeper and our sister’s keeper, in matters concerning sin.

The Lord tells Ezekiel: “You, son of man, I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel; when you hear me say anything, you shall warn them for me.”

·        And then he goes on to tell Ezekiel, that if Ezekiel does not speak to the wicked man about his wicked ways, of course the wicked man will be punished for his wickedness; but so will Ezekiel, who failed to warn him.

·        But if Ezekiel warns the wicked man and yet the wicked man still remains in his sin, Ezekiel will be absolved of the wicked man’s guilt; only the wicked man in this case will be punished for his wickedness.

The Lord is very clear here; Ezekiel and indeed all people are responsible for helping others to turn away from sin.  Each of us is: “my brother’s keeper; my sister’s keeper;” each of us can help keep a brother or sister away from sin.

In the gospel passage we have just heard, the Lord expands the message given to Ezekiel.  He expects of Christians, like was expected of the prophet Ezekiel, to help sinful fellow Christians.  But even more, Jesus provides a template or blueprint showing exactly a four-step, gradual process of bringing back the sinner to the correct path.

Jesus says: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.”  This is the first step, a one-on-one interaction.  We call this fraternal correction.  We might say to Maggie, “you were kind of brush with me yesterday.”  And in this way we help a brother or sister realise that they have done wrong.  There is great hope that the sinner will realise his mistake, change his  or her behaviour and return to the right path.  This is the hope that Jesus expresses when he says:  “If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.”

Unfortunately, some sinners will not accept this personal fraternal correction.  That is where the second step comes in.  Jesus says: “If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’”  This is more like calling for backup or doing an intervention.  The backup of more people is needed for two main reasons.  First of all, in the Jewish legal system and probably in ours today, the witness of two or more was required to sustain a case in court.  And so, two or three people were necessary to give evidence about the wrongdoing, should that be needed later.  But a second and more important reason is that two or more members of the community might help the sinner see his bad ways more easily than one person.  There is strength in numbers, so they say.  One or two more people bring a slightly wider perspective to the situation and often, the person realizes the error of their ways and returns to the path of righteousness.

When the person refuses to listen to the small group, Jesus provides a third step. “Tell the Church,” Jesus says.  This step involves bringing in the wider Christian community, especially the Church leaders.  In our language today, we might call this step: “Bring in the big guns.”  For our sins affect the community; our sins give a bad example to others in the community, especially to the young; our sins make the community weaker; our sins often hurt other members of our community.  And so if the first two steps, the personal and the small-group intervention have failed to take care of the problem, the whole community, especially through the church leaders, need to get involved.

Unfortunately, as you and I know, some people will persist in their sin and will never accept the advice of one person, a small group of people or even the whole Church.  And here Jesus prescribes the ultimate measure: “If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.”  To a Jewish listener at Jesus’ time, a gentile or tax-collector represented a person who was not usually a part of the community; he was an outsider or someone to be expelled and excluded.  And this is the medicine he recommends for the adamant sinner, who has refused the three other attempts to treat him.  This last measure is what today we might call the nuclear option.

Christian Life

My friends, the call to be our brothers’ keepers and our sisters’ keepers is most urgent today.  We live in times of political correctness, when we are extremely reluctant to butt into the affairs of other people.  While individualism and privacy might be values for society, they are not Christian virtues.  Christians take care of each other, not just attending to each other’s hunger, thirst and illness, but we also take care of each other’s sins. And when we do help each other to overcome sinfulness, we must do so, as Jesus taught us.

1.    That is why our one-on-one fraternal corrections must be done with love and with the intention of helping each other become better.  We must not become nitpickers.  Especially as parents, we must learn what is important enough to correct in our children and what we can let slide by.  For if the only time they hear us speak to them is to correct this or that, they will stop listening at all and we shall have failed in our job.  We must speak truth, with love.  It often bring me joy to see when families are gathered together, all the adults, are responsible for the discipline of the children present, be they nieces, nephews, grandchildren etc.

2.    When we have to use the second step, the small group intervention, we must resist the temptation to gossip.  Again involving other people in this process is not a time to fan the rumour mill, otherwise the sinner will become ashamed, defensive and be pushed further into sin.  Our intervention must be done in genuine love for the sinner rather than the desire to bring them down.  How often I am pleased to see friends intervening to stop someone from falling further into alcohol or drugs.

3.    When we use the third step, reporting the matter to the Community, we must once again resist the temptation to become snitches.  This step is only used when the first two have failed; but it is also only used so that the community might bring to bear its collective influence and wisdom on the person and bring them back to God.  Often the community does this through praying for the sinner and leaders admonishing the sinner, sometimes even publicly.  That is why sometimes our bishops have to remind politicians and even theologians of their errant ways.

4.    Finally, the last step, the exclusion or expulsion or excommunication of the sinner should be used as a last resort, only after everything else has failed.  This expulsion is meant to help the person change.  While he or she is temporarily cast out of the community, Jesus hopes that the person will come to their senses, see the light and return to God.  The expulsion is therefore more of a medicine than a punishment.  I have seen this step used in families, when Uncle Jimmy is not invited to Thanksgiving dinner, because despite repeated warnings, he refuse to stop his vulgar language in front of the kids.

Conclusion

We are on this journey of salvation together.  That is why we must cover each other’s back, not by covering up their error, but by bringing it to their attention so that they might change.

I will end with a quote from someone much wiser than me, about our journey to salvation:

We need to save ourselves together, to arrive together at God’s door, to present ourselves together.  We must not enter the Good Lord’s house, only some of us without the others.  We need to return to the house of our Father, all of us together.  What will he say to us, if we arrive there without our brothers and sisters?  What shall we say to God if we arrive there without our brothers and sisters?

Mission Appeal Homily for Little Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi

MISSION APPEAL – 22^nd Sunday Ordinary Time

Introduction

Good morning/ afternoon.  My names are Fr. Deogratias Ekisa.  I am grateful to Fr. Ken for allowing me to come and speak to you about and appeal for the work of the Little Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi of Uganda.  I am currently assigned to teach at Notre Dame Seminary, here in the city.

A few years ago when I was making an appeal at a parish like this one, I was concerned that because of my foreign accent, the people did not understand my message.  So I asked the Pastor: “Did your people understand my message?”  The Pastor, a nice man, said: “No, I don’t think they understood half of what you said; but they still gave you the money anyway.” I have been practicing to speak more clearly and I hope that today besides being generous, you will also understand what I have to say.  For my visit today is not just about money, but it is also about sharing my experience of the universality of the Church.

I would like to speak first about today’s readings and then secondly about the mission work of the sisters.

Scripture and Theology

When the Lord in today’s gospel teaches that, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” he is really raising the bar for all Christians.  He is essentially saying that all his disciples, all his followers, all Christians must live a life of self-denial, sometimes suffering, even persecution.  And this is something we all do, day in, day out, as Christians.  We deny ourselves things that are perfectly normal for the rest of the world.

·        Christians choose to deny themselves multiple marriage partners.

·        Christians choose to promote life from conception to natural death.

·        Christians choose to spend time in worship, like we are doing today.

But we choose to live differently, because we follow the way of the Lord.

My friends, although this path of the cross is a path for all Christians, some Christians take it a step further and live very radically.  Among these Christians are religious men and women who give up marriage altogether, give up the owning personal property and most important of all, surrender their personal will; they do these things in service of God and their brothers and sisters.

Mission Application

The Little Sisters of St. Francis of Uganda are just one such group among the many thousands of religious congregations in the world that follow the Lord in this radical way.  The Little Sisters were founded by Mother Kevin Kearney, an Irish religious herself, in 1923.  She realized that although the missionaries had brought the faith to Uganda in 1879, that work would only succeed, if there was the service and witness of African sisters themselves, working with and alongside the missionary priests and religious.

When, a few weeks ago, the superior of the Little Sisters asked me to come and speak on their behalf, at first I thought it was all about saving some money on flights.  After all, I live here in New Orleans and rather than fly one of their sisters from Philadelphia or even from Uganda to come and speak to you, why not use someone like me on the ground.  Being Franciscans, these sisters certainly know how to use wisely the resources God has given them.

But then I realized that the reason they asked me to come here today was more than good stewardship and convenience.  It is actually payback.  Let me explain.

You see my family has been the beneficiary of the work of these sisters for three generations; and it is about time for me to repay their generosity.

My maternal grandfather, Joseph, was a school teacher back in the 1940s and he taught in the sisters’ school.  But then he suddenly died when my mother was just a few years old.  So the sisters took in, not only my orphaned mother, but also my grandmother who was now a widow.  Unfortunately the cultural practice at that time, was to force widows to marry one of the other relatives or to leave. My grandmother did not want to become a second wife; so she went to leave at and work with the sisters to support herself and her daughter.

My mother went to the sisters’ school until she finished the eighth grade.  Knowing her family situation they waved her tuition.  And then they sent her off to a teacher’s college run by their order, where she trained as a primary school teacher.  Fortunately for me, she did not choose to become a nun after she finished school – otherwise I would not be here speaking to you.  She chose to serve God as a mother and wife.

The sisters’ help did not stop with my grandmother and mother.  When I was in the fourth grade, in a rather run-down village school, the sisters once again came to the rescue.  They asked my mother if they could take me to a better boarding school and would find funds to pay for me there.  And that is what happened.  So I went to St. James Primary School, where I finished primary school under the watchful eye of the sisters who cared for me; later I would join high school seminary.  I might add that during these years my mother and I made several trips to the hospital run by the sisters, to treat my malaria, scabies, measles and all kinds of childhood and tropical diseases you can think of.

And so, you can see that in sending me here to you today, it is like the sisters are putting me on display and saying: look here is an example of the fruits that our ministry produces.

·        The sisters keep people alive with medical care, food and water and that is why my grandmother, mother and I have life.

·        The sisters educate children and give them a solid education for life, an education that has been the essential foundation for my other studies.

·        The sisters nurture faith in the children they teach and also in my case nurture vocations to the priesthood.

And the sisters do this great work all in the name of Jesus, denying themselves families, material things and their personal freedom.

Mission Appeal

My friends, there are many other children just like I was, who could benefit from the work of the sisters; you can see some of their cute little faces in the pictures at the back of the Church.  But the sisters need your help to do this work.  Your donation in today’s second collection helps them bring Christ to others.

·        Can you consider helping Sr. Bernadette, the Principal of the School at my home parish, with tuition for some of her poorest children who cannot otherwise attend school?  It costs 40 or 50 dollars a month.

·        Can you consider helping Sr. Beatrice, the Principal of the School that I attended, with funds to buy some office and teaching equipment?  As one of their alumni, she recently sent me a letter asking for help to buy a printer for the school.

·        Can you consider helping Sr. Agnes who works with the youth, teaching them about good health habits, music and generally counselling them in those troublesome years of adolescence and early adulthood?

There are many things you can do for them, and I will be glad to share them with you after Mass.

Conclusion

But the photographs alone and even my words are not enough to show you how much of a difference, your generous donations make in the lives of the people in Uganda.  And that is why I am extending an invitation to you to come and visit us in Uganda.  I promise we shall not put you to work, unless you want to.

I would like to end by asking you for the most important thing, your prayers.  Please pray for the safety and success of the work of the missionaries throughout the world, and especially the Little Sisters of St. Francis.  I also promise you the grateful prayers of these wonderful sisters, who follow Christ in their chosen calling, by bring him to others, especially by their example and by their work.  Thank you again for your welcome.  May God continue to bless you.

All are invited to the Lord’s Banquet!

Homily for the 20^th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A 2014

Isa 56:1, 6-7 • Rom 11:13-15, 29-32 • Matthew 15:21-28

Introduction

A story is told of Protestant man who was the only non-Catholic in a certain 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 of course she went to put some flowers to 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 office and gave the pastor a her piece of 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.”

Scripture and Theology

The question of inclusion and exclusion has always been a thorny one for Christians and even before that of our Jewish ancestors. 

Today’s first reading from Isaiah wrestles with this problem.  This passage is set after the exile of the Jewish people, when the inter-mingling of the Jews and the foreigners was increasing.  And so the Jews were asking themselves: does God really accept the sacrifices and prayers of these foreigners?

Isaiah answers these questions, first by laying down the minimum conditions which foreigners who wish to serve in the temple must fulfil. 

·        They must observe the Sabbath

·        They must obey the commandments of the Covenant that applied to them.

If they kept these conditions, they would be proving that they have 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.”

In the gospel Jesus deals with the same problem.  Here is Jesus, a Jewish Rabbi, who is trying to reform his society so that they could be more faithful to God.  Should he give this message 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?

The dialogue in the gospel story, at first sight, might 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 clearly from reading the whole of the gospels and even from this passage itself, we know that the issue is more complicated.  For Jesus say these things to give the woman a chance to argue her case.  And indeed the woman is up to the challenge.

The Canaanite woman makes the perfect argument for sharing God’s blessings with the non-Jewish people as well.  She tells Jesus that the left-overs are good enough for the dogs, meaning that Jesus must have something left over in his work even for the non-Jews.  But most important of all, she fulfils the essential condition that Isaiah had indicated earlier: the foreigners must be people of faith.  This recognizes Jesus as Lord and sees in him the power of God.  That is why Jesus says to her: “O woman, great is your faith.  Let it be done for you as you wish.”  And the woman’s daughter was healed from that hour.

Christian Life

We today also wrestle with this question of whether those outside the Church can receive God’s blessings.  People often ask questions like:

·        Can non-Catholics receive communion and other sacraments?

·        Should the Catholic Church be involved in ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue and activities with other Christians and even non-Christians?

·        Will the Jews, Muslims and those we call heathens go to heaven?

Now if I tried to reflect on all these issues in my homily, we would be here until the cows come home.  Perhaps our Parish’s Adult Religious Education Program can arrange to cover this subject in a series of classes.

What I want us to reflect on today is the attitude in our hearts and minds, perhaps even in our prayers and conversations regarding this issue.  Among us Catholics we have generally three answers to this question of inclusion in God’s favour?

The Catholics of the so-called liberal persuasion think that it doesn’t matter whether you are Catholic or not.  We are all the same; no matter what we do, God loves us.  Don’t worry, be happy, anything goes.  This group forgets the basic conditions that Isaiah set for both the Jews and Gentiles: faithfulness to the Lord’s commandments.  God’s favour is not a free-for-all.  The invitation to his banquet is given to all; but it is up to us to respond to that invitation by doing the needful.  Unfortunately, some wilfully reject the invitation.

At the other end of the spectrum, Catholics of the so-called conservative persuasion, think that everybody outside the fold is going straight to hell.  They argue that dialogue with Protestants is not only futile, but is dangerous since it corrupts the Church with those Protestant ideas.  This thinking spares its heavy ammunition for the Muslims.  How often we hear on Talk Radio, Television and conversations, Catholics and other Christians vilifying all Muslims, because of the atrocities of some of Muslims!  Yes, there are Muslims who use their religion to do bad things, especially with what is going on the Middle East today.  But have some Christians not used the Bible to justify racial segregation and murder?  For me, this is bad logic and bad reasoning.  We cannot leap from the sins of a few to the conclusion that all are guilty and all are to be excluded from God’s favour.

The third and Catholic attitude towards outsiders, is that which we have heard in today’s readings and that which is found consistently in the Church’s teaching.  It is a both . . . and attitude, not the easy “Yes or No” approach.  For the Letter to Timothy tells us that God wishes all to be saved.  And that is why he extends his invitation to everybody, first to the Jews and now to us the Gentiles.  He sent Jesus his Son, to show us the way, the sure way that leads to salvation.  Let us make no mistake about it: the sure way to salvation is Jesus Christ and his Church.  John Chapter 3: 16 is very clear about that: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”  We must thank the Lord that we have been fortunate enough to choose the way of Jesus.

As to what happens to those who are not fortunate to be inside the house like us?  We do not know.  That is not for us to answer; that is for God to answer.  And listening to God’s word, and knowing that the Lord is generous and merciful, we can have the hope that in ways known only to him, he will let in others too.  This hope is not unfounded, for as today’s readings tell us, the bottom line, the minimum condition is faith in God, a faith that can sometimes be even in those outside the fold.  We would also do well to remember Jesus’ answer to his disciples: “whoever is not against us is for us.”

Conclusion

This hope in the goodness and the salvation of those outside the fold, should not lessen our faithfulness to the Lord or minimize our missionary zeal to bring others to the Lord.  For the way of Christ and the Church is the sure, certain and ordinary way; other ways are based only on hope and are therefore unpredictable, uncertain and extraordinary.

At the same time, we should not exclude the possibility that the Lord can bring people to himself through these other ways.  What the Lord has to offer us, eternal life with him, is big enough to be shared among all. Remember the parable about the workers in the vineyard who came in to work at different times but received the same reward?  Well in the same way, we who have come to know the Lord earlier, who have been with him the longest and perhaps been the most faithful, should not be jealous because the Lord is generous.

I will leave you with Psalm 15, which begins with these questions: “LORD, who shall be admitted to your tent? Who may dwell on your holy mountain?”  You will find that the answers to this question do not exclude anyone; it is people who exclude themselves from God’s invitation by not doing his will.  If God does not exclude people, why should you and I do so?

The Almighty has done great things for Mary and her Children!

Homily for Assumption Year A 2014

1 Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab; Ps 45:10, 11, 12, 16; 1 Cor 15:20-27; Lk 1:39-56

Introduction

I have had the privilege of being around several elderly priests, who have many interesting stories to share from their long experience of life.  What is interesting, however, is that when they tell stories about their parents, it is usually the mother about whom they talk often.  Seventy and eighty years later they say: “Mom did this for me, Mom taught me this, Mom was like this and so on.”

There is something special in the relationship between a child and its mother, especially between a boy and his mother, quite different from the relationship with his father. For most sons, there is nothing they cannot do for their mother.

That same relationship exists between Jesus and his mother Mary.  And surely, there is nothing Jesus could not do for his Mother.

Scripture and Theology

Mary acknowledges this, when as we heard in the gospel she cries out: “The Almighty has done great things for me.”  This line just as the great song it comes from which we call the Magnificat, is Mary’s response to Elizabeth saing to her: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”  But Mary attributes this compliment, these blessings, not to her own work, but to the Almighty, who has done great things for her.

The Church agrees with both Elizabeth and Mary, that the Almighty has done great things for Mary.  And so we Catholics celebrate various Marian feasts to mark the great things that the Lord did for his mother Mary.  Three of these great things stand out in a special way, and are celebrated with Holy Days of Obligation, just as important as Sundays, when we are required to come to Mass.

1.    On December 8^th, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, we celebrate Mary being conceived without original sin.  We thank God for making her pure from sin from the very beginning of her life, throughout her life and at the end of her life.

2.    On January 1^st, the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God, we celebrate another great thing the Almighty did for Mary.  We thank god for making her the Mother of the second person of the Trinity, God the Son.

3.    And today, August 15^th, the Solemnity of the Assumption, we celebrate yet another great thing that the Lord did for Mary.  We thank God for taking her up to heaven, body and soul where she is glorified with her Son.

Now if you noticed in the gospel, when Mary sings the Magnificat and glorifies the Lord for his goodness to her, the focus is not just on her.  Yes, Mary is grateful and honoured that the Lord “has looked with favor on his lowly servant; [and] from this day all generations will call me blessed.”  But Mary is also grateful for the things the Lord has done for his people Israel.

·        He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation.

·        He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit.

·        He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly.

·        He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

·        He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy.

And Mary is grateful that the Lord has given her the privilege of playing a part in all these things, by being the mother of the Son, Jesus, who will bring about all these things: mercy, redemption, lifting up the lowly.  And so if Mary is grateful for the many things God has done for her, she is even more grateful for the many things the Lord has done for his people, especially bringing them his mercy and saving them from death.

As Paul told the Corinthians in today’s second reading, Christ’s death has conquered death forever.  And in the words of John, God has promised all who believe in him, that as a result, we shall be with him and the angels for all eternity, being like him and seeing him as he is.  Mary, not only plays a great part in bringing about these things, in the Magnificat, she is grateful to God for bringing them about.

Christian Life

My friends, today’s feast, should help us on our Christian journey in two main ways:

First, let us be reassured that the third great thing the Almighty did for Mary, taking her into heaven body and soul, that great thing he has promised to do for us as well.  What Jesus did for his mother Mary, he also does for us his brothers and sisters.  The Lord said: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.”  The Assumption should remind us of this good and great thing the Almighty has done for us too, by redeeming us from our sins and now opening the doors of heaven, not just to our souls, but also to our bodies.  We are headed heavenward; let heaven be the address we enter into the GPS of our lives; and then we shall be guided, turn by turn, sometimes recalculating or rerouting when we have made the wrong turn by sin, sometimes taking detours when we need to avoid the traffic jams of temptation, but always directing us to our goal of being assumed like Mary into heaven.

The second message for us to take from today’s feast is one of gratitude, like Mary. Can we look back and appreciate the great things the Lord has done for us personally, like our family, friends, job etc, and the great things the Lord has done for us as the Body of Christ?  Let the Magnificat song, be the model for our personal prayer.  Before asking God for favours, let us first thank him for the ones he has already given us, like Mary does in the Magnificat!

·        Perhaps at the end of the day before we go to bed, we can take a moment to recount the small graces and blessings which the Almighty has done for us; that lovely visit with friends, the good news from the doctor, the harmony in the family.

·        Perhaps every few months and especially at the end of the year, we remember the many blessings the Lord has given us.

·        But most importantly, like Mary we thank the Lord for the really great and important things has done for all of us, like salvation, mercy, the keys to heaven.  Although these are not immediate things, they are all that really matters in the final analysis.

Conclusion

My friends, Mary is both our intercessor and mother.  What mother does not want to share her blessings with the children!  Let us look forward to the day when we too can share the Assumption with her. In the meantime, let us ask her to remember us as we continue our journey on earth and to intercede for us with her Son that we may remain faithful to our call as faithful disciples, knowing God’s will at all times.

And then when each of us shows up at the Almighty’s door, he will recognize us saying, “you look like one of Mary’s children; come on in!  Come, join the company of your Blessed mother and be with her, for all eternity.”

Corpus Christi and the Mission Churches

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)

Given at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark – 21/22 June 2014

Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16 Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 John 6:51-58

Introduction

Good morning/ afternoon.  My names are Fr. Deogratias Ekisa.  I am grateful to Rector and the Priests of the Cathedral, for allowing me to speak to you.

A few years ago when I was making an appeal at a parish like this one, I was concerned that because of my foreign accent, the people did not understand my message.  So I asked the Pastor: “Did your people understand my message?”  The Pastor, a nice man, said: “No, I don’t think they understood half of what you said; but they still gave you the money anyway.” I have been practicing to speak more clearly and I hope that today besides being generous, you will also understand what I have to say.

I would like to speak first about today’s feast of Corpus Christi and then secondly about mission work in Uganda.

Scripture and Theology

Today’s Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, traditionally called Corpus Christi, is a special reminder of this most wonderful gift that the Lord Jesus left for his Church on the night before he died.  The Lord wanted to leave us a concrete means of remaining with us, so that every generation of Christians would partake of the fruits of his saving work.  He took bread, gave thanks and gave the bread to his disciples saying: “Take and eat, this is my body.”  And then he took the cup filled with wine, and said: “Take and drink, this is my blood of the new covenant.”  And then he commanded them: “Do this in memory of me.”

For 2000 years the Church has continued to fulfill the command of Our Lord and Saviour, continuing to share the benefits of his saving work for all people.

·        Every Sunday, Catholics gather together to celebrate the Mass, in which, through the hands of the priest, they take bread and wine at the Offertory, they give thanks in the Eucharist Prayer and they share in communion, what is now the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.  And we do this, to tap into the source of salvation, for as St. Paul told us: “The cup of blessing that we bless, is a participation in the blood of Christ and the bread that we break, is a participation in the body of Christ.”

·        The Body and Blood of Jesus are so vital for our salvation, that we take them to the sick and elderly who are not able to come to Mass.  And especially those who are about to die, the Body and Blood of Jesus are given as Viaticum, food for the final part of the journey to heaven.  For as the Lord told us: “whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.”

·        Besides the Mass and communion outside Mass, we also continue to acknowledge the source of our salvation, when we adore the Blessed Sacrament.  We do this by adoring the Body of Christ reposed in the Tabernacle or exposed in the monstrance.  Eucharistic processions and congresses put the spotlight on the central place of the Body and Blood of Christ, the saving sacrifice of Christ that they make present for us today.

Mission Application

The Body and Blood of Christ are just as central for the mission church, as it is for the universal Church.  But the mission Church celebrates this gift in ways that respond to our unique needs and with particular problems unique to our situation.

Despite the best efforts of the Church in Uganda, only a small percentage of parishioners attend Mass every Sunday.  About 85% of Ugandans are Christian and about 45% are Catholics.  And so the typical parish in Uganda has about 10,000 parishioners and about 20 mission churches.  Before taking up my current assignment, I was pastor of what would be considered a small parish.  My parish has 4,000 parishioners and 12 mission churches.  Although sometimes I think of myself as superman, I could not celebrate 12 Masses in twelve distant villages on one weekend.  I usually celebrated two or three Masses every weekend and at that rate, the people of the mission Churches have Mass about once every two months.

And yet for them, this occasional visit by the priest is a great treasure.  This is the time when they celebrate the Sacrifice of the Mass and receive the Body and Blood of Christ.  This is also the occasion for me to celebrate the other sacraments, confession before Mass, anointing after Mass and the sacraments celebrated during Mass.  On one occasion I celebrated, in one Mass, a wedding, baptized about 60 children and gave first Holy Communion to about 100 children.  As you can imagine, the Mass was quite long, three hours in fact.  The length was caused not only by the many ceremonies, but also because the homily was rather long; after all, I have to speak about all these sacraments and say the things I need to say for the next two months.  But do not worry about today’s homily; Father advised me that if I spoke less, you would be more generous.

Celebrating communion services is the next best thing for those village communities that are far from the main Church.  The catechist, who not only teaches catechism, but is also like the unofficial pastor of his or her village, usually travels to the main church, to bring back communion to his village for the Sunday communion and scripture service.  He also brings communion to the sick in his village, when the priest cannot come to them.

Unfortunately, the devotion to the Blessed Sacrament in adoration can only take place at the main Churches, which have a tabernacle and exposition only in those few parishes that might have a monstrance.

Mission Appeal

I come to you today, to appeal for your help, so that we can carry out the mission of the Church.  Your donation in today’s second collection will help us ensure that more people can receive the Body and Blood of Christ, as well as have their other needs met.  Let me give you a few examples of what we do with your help.

1.    Your donation of $100 enables us to buy a bicycle for a catechist to travel back and forth from his village and main parish church.  Your donation of $2,000 enables us to buy a small motorbike for priest to minister to all his parishioners, even those in far flung off villages of his parish.

2.    Your donation of $50 to $100 a month enables us to pay for our young men who are studying for the priesthood.  When these young men are eventually ordained, we currently have about 50 of them, they will reduce the ratio of parishioners to priest, which is currently about 10,000 to one, to a much more manageable number – so that parishioners have closer and more regular access to Mass and the sacraments.

3.    Many of our village churches could soon become full-fledged parishes, if we have more priests, but also if we can put up a church-building.  Our pleasant tropical weather allows us to build a small village church for as little as $10,000.

There are many more things we do, such as providing clean drinking water, running schools and clinics, in short, providing also for the material needs of our people, like the Lord provided manna for the people of Israel in the desert.  For when our people pray the Lord’s Prayer and ask: “Give us this Day, our daily bread,” they are asking not just for the Body and Blood of Christ, they are also asking that the Lord meet their basic needs of food, medicine, education and shelter.  You can see how we attempt to meet these all these needs in the photographs displayed in the narthex or speak to me after Mass.

Conclusion

But the photographs alone and even my words are not enough to show you how much of a difference, your generous donations make in the lives of the people in Uganda.  And that is why I am extending an invitation to you to come and visit us in Uganda.  I promise we shall not put you to work, unless you want to.

·        But you will have the opportunity to pray with parishioners in a small village church, whose roof has been put on with your help.

·        You will see school children running up and about in the sisters’ school, happy to have an education and promise of a bright future, thanks to you.

·        You will see the mothers who have brought their sick children to our parish clinic, relieved that their children are getting some medical care, at a clinic built and supported with your help.

I would like to end by asking you for the most important thing, your prayers.  Please pray for the safety and success of the work of the missionaries throughout the world and in Uganda in particular.  This work belongs to God and that is why we must ask God to help us.  I also promise you the grateful prayers of the Ugandan people, whose lives are made a little better, thanks to your help.  Thank you again for your warm hospitality and welcome.  May God continue to bless you.

Christ continues to be among us, in Word and Sacrament

Homily for Ascension Year A 2014

Acts 1:1-11 • Eph 1:17-23 • Matthew 28:16-20

Introduction

Imagine a very successful businessman or woman, a CEO of a big company, or the founder of a family business built from scratch; now he or she are in their senior years and are about to retire.  Perhaps they have been grooming the successor for some years now, teaching them the ropes and trying them out on a few challenging tasks to see if they are up to it.  Now he or she hands the reins to the successor and says: “carry on now – take the company to greater heights.”

My friends, let me suggest that the Ascension of Jesus, which we celebrate today can be compared to the retirement of this CEO.  Jesus is the retiring CEO, the apostles are his successors, and the business is the Church.

Scripture and Theology

After he returns to the Father in heaven, Jesus will no longer walk the earth in the flesh.  After the Ascension, Jesus is present in the world through the Church.  He has done his part; he has laid the foundation for the Kingdom of God; now it is the turn of his close disciples to continue the work.

That is why he told the apostles: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you (Matthew 28:19-20).”  This verse, known as the Great Commission is Jesus’ way of saying: “I am no longer here in person; you have to finish the job I have started, and do it in my name, make me proud.”

What does this great commission really say?  The commission of making disciples of all nations seems to have two main tasks: “Baptising them” and “teaching them.”  That is why Church has these two main instruments for fulfilling the job given to us by Jesus: Sacraments and the Word.

·        Through the sacraments, especially the sacrament of Baptism, in which people are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we are reborn and made children of the Father.  And if we persist in faith and charity, living up to our baptismal promises, we can hope to be counted among those whom Jesus invites into the Kingdom of the Father. If baptism is the sacrament that opens the door for us to discipleship, the other sacraments either strengthen our discipleship like Confirmation, the Eucharist, Matrimony, Holy Orders, or they repair it when our discipleship is weakened by sin and illness, like the sacraments of Confession and Anointing of the Sick.  And so in celebrating the Sacraments today, we are simply fulfilling the instruction of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.

·        The second task is teaching.  Jesus commands that the apostles make disciples of all nations by teaching them to observe all those things that he has taught them.  And indeed Jesus has taught a lot of things, and if I listed them all we would be here until the cows come home.  Suffice to say that we can find all that Jesus taught, not just in the Bible, but in the Catechism, where the successors of the Apostles, the Pope and Bishops, have organized his message according to themes and applied it to today’s situation.  And so whether the Church is teaching in homilies or catechism classes, or whether it is the Pope or the bishops teaching, they are continuing the command of the Master, making disciples for him.

But Jesus is not just throwing the apostles into the water and telling them to swim or sink.  Actually he has given them the tools for the task at hand in two ways.

·        First, for three years as they have lived with Jesus, he has exposed them to the great events of our salvation. They have heard him teach them, they have seen his miracles and example of prayer and compassion, they have seen his suffering, death and resurrection.  And now tells them to preach all these things to nations. Like the retiring CEO who has been grooming his successor for several years, Jesus has indeed groomed the apostles.

·        The second thing Jesus gives them is the promise that he will continue to be with them; we heard him say: “I am with you always, until the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).” Of course he is present all the time and everywhere, since he is the Risen Lord, who is no longer bound by space and time.  But he is also present in the Holy Spirit, who is the other advocate.  We can think of Jesus as that retired CEO whose involvement in the business is behind the scenes; perhaps he is a member of the board or even he is just a phone call away, when advice and wisdom is needed.  Jesus too is only a prayer away, as he continues to guide the Church.

Christian Life

The Apostles did indeed carry out the great commission given them by Jesus.  They made disciples, not only in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, but indeed to the ends of the earth.  They in turn passed on this baton of faith to their successors who continued his work until today, until the Good News reached even here in Atlanta, Georgia.

My friends this two-pronged approach of Word and Sacrament, continues to be the Catholic way of bringing people to Jesus even today.  Other Christian churches, believe in just the Word and perhaps baptism; but we Catholics believe in both Word and Sacrament, as the means of building up the Body of Christ.  Of course the way in which the Word is often clear, because we learn some new thing to believe or we pick up some advice on how to live a good moral life.  What about sacraments; how do they contribute to building the Kingdom of God?

Sacraments are essentially acted words; sacraments put in action, what the Word of God teaches.  In the Old Testament, the sacraments of the Jewish people were the sacrifices of animals and foodstuffs they offered to God.  The sacraments of Jesus have replaced those sacrifices.  They make present for us in a real way, what words only suggest.

·        Think about baptism.  Of course most of us were infants at baptism, but I am sure you have witnessed the baptism of others.  While we can teach all we want about becoming children of God, until we undergo the ritual of our bodies being washed with water, which represents our souls being washed, it is all abstract and theoretical. 

·        Think about your confirmation, when the bishop laid his hand on you and anointed you and said: “Be sealed with the Holy Spirit;” at that moment, you were branded forever as a child of God and given the task of being his apostle and messenger.

·        Think about when you go to confession, and you name your sins and tell God you are sorry and then the priest pronounces those words: “I absolve you from your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” making God’s mercy really concrete for you.

Conclusion

My friends, on this Ascension Day, let us go home, not feeling like orphans, like Jesus has abandoned us.  Let us not feel like the apostles who, as we heard, remained there standing and looking at the sky for Jesus who had ascended.

Rather let us be assured that he has left us the Sacraments and the Word, as tools for continuing his work and his presence among us.  And as we celebrate the sacraments and hear his Word, let us also remember that perhaps the best way to live out the Sacraments and to proclaim his Word is by our witness and actions.  As St. Francis is reported to have told his followers: “Teach the Gospel always, and when necessary use words.”  And so, as we continue the work of Jesus, let our mantra as Catholics be threefold: Worship, Word and Witness.