5th Week of Ordinary Time 2022 - Wednesday - Purification from what defiles us

 He fed five thousand people with a handful of bread, he walked on water, he performed countless healings, but the Pharisees and scribes choose to focus on how the Lord and his disciples ate without the ceremonial purifications that weren’t even prescribed by the law.

Sure, the Law of Moses prescribed ceremonial washing for the priests serving at the altar in the Temple, but the Pharisees extended these rules to everyone, and then condemned people for not observing them.

The Pharisees were perverting the Law of Moses and missing its purpose entirely—they were like the mean kids from grammar school that bullied you for breaking rules you didn’t even know about. And now they are all grown up, and have political sway, but they are still on the same toxic power trip.

In response to the Pharisees criticism, our Gospel begins today with the Lord summoning a crowd to address this unjust Pharisaical standard and their misapplication of the Law of Moses—their fake news, so to speak. 

“Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters a person from outside can defile that person,” rather what defiles are the moral evils that fester in the human heart: unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, and so on.

You want to know what defiles a person? Human sin, evil conduct. 

The Lord exposes the Pharisees for being more concerned with outward appearances than true inner moral goodness. They were a bunch of fakers, religious fakers. And the Lord, speaking with authority, sets the true standard for his followers. We must seek authentic conversion from all sin, including inner purification from sinful desires and ruminations. 

For Catholics, we’ve come up with some pretty practical ways of conforming to this teaching. We are to make a daily examination considering if our actions and attitudes over the course of the day have been unclean, and if they were, to repent of them. 

We are to make frequent use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We are to reflect upon God Word daily, to help us examine and conform our lives. We are to avoid using dirty language and fixating on dirty images. We are to seek freedom from all unforgiveness, ingratitude, selfishness, greed and gluttony. 

Jesus makes a very powerful promise to the pure of heart. “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” The Pharisees were unable to see that Jesus was God because they may have been ritually pure on the outside, but inside, they were full of corruption and defilement. 

So too in our culture: so many have lost touch with God precisely because they have allowed themselves to be defiled and refuse to repent and seek that purification that can only come from Him.

Lord, cleanse us, make our hearts new, purify us that we may see your face, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For the Holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her and care for her, and bring cleansing to all the impurity which afflicts her members and leaders.

For the conversion of all those who have fallen into serious sin, for a return of fallen away Catholics to the Sacraments, and that all young people may be protected from the perversions of our culture.

For healing for all those suffering disease, especially diseases without known cures, for the people of China and all people afflicted by the Coronavirus, and all who are oppressed by any kind of need, that the Lord may graciously grant them relief.

For the dead, for all of the souls in purgatory, and for X, for whom this Holy mass is offered. 

O God, our refuge and our strength, hear the prayers of your Church, for you are the source of all goodness, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith, we may truly obtain. Through Christ our Lord.

3rd Week of Lent 2021 - Wednesday - Words on the Threshold

Having led the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery, and delivering unto them the 10 commandments, then having traveled 40 years in the desert, Moses finally brings the Israelites to the threshold of the promised land. 

In the powerful book of Deuteronomy, Moses stands at that threshold and speaks, as we heard in today’s reading, the words, and statutes and decrees, that will enable them to live, to survive in this new land. The name of the 5th book of Moses, Deuteronomy, comes from the Hebrew word, debarim, which means “the words”— that is, the words, the laws—that will enable the Israelites to live as the people God was calling them to be.

In the Gospel, the Lord references these words, these commands and laws, “I haven’t come to do away with the law”, he says, and not letter of it, not the smallest part of a letter of it, not even the little dot over the i. 

Sometimes you hear the strange idea that because Jesus died for us, that frees us from having to follow God’s laws. That because we are forgiven of our sins past, present, and future, we aren’t bound to follow any sort of law or rule of conduct. That’s certainly not the biblical message, nor the teaching of the Church.

The Law of Moses was for the purpose of teaching people to live in righteousness, in right relationship with God. Right relationship, righteousness, involves our moral conduct—doing good and avoiding evil.

Regarding the law of Moses, the Old Law, the Catechism says that the law of Moses, was a “preparation for the Gospel” which of course also involves moral conduct, in fact, the Lord Jesus, has raised the bar of moral conduct for us Christians in many ways.

Not only are we to follow the moral law found in the Old Testament, but we are to strive for the way of perfection of Jesus Christ. I have not come to abolish the law, the Lord says, but to complete it. Catechism says, “the New Law or the Law of the Gospel is the perfection here on earth of the divine law, natural and revealed.”

Smack dab in the middle of Lent, we have the readings about moral conduct, no doubt, because Lent is about helping us right what is wrong in our lives, to help us identify this sins that we have not quite turned away from, and to strive for the perfection that is Jesus Christ—the word made flesh. Hence, making good Lenten examinations of conscience and a good Lenten confession.

Lent is a threshold. Like Moses standing at the threshold of the promised land, we are invited to examine our conduct, and to bring our conduct, and our hearts into deeper union with the law of love taught by and fulfilled by Our Lord, that we may live, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That obedience to all the commands of Christ and the Church may mark the life of every Christian. 

For all those preparing to enter into Christ through the saving waters of Baptism and those preparing for full initiation this Easter, may these final Lenten weeks bring about purification from sin and enlightenment in the ways of holiness.

For those who have fallen away from the Church, who have become separated through error and sin, for those who reject the teachings of Christ, for their conversion and the conversion of all hearts.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or illness: may they experience the healing graces of Christ. 

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy.

10th Week of OT 2020 - Friday - Promoting Strong Christian Marriage and Authentic Holiness

Since Monday we’ve been reading from Jesus’ most famous sermon, his sermon on the mount.  In this sermon, Jesus teaches his followers how to live so that the life of God may take root in their hearts and grow in their lives. 

In these first verses of his Sermon, the Lord is constantly referencing the law of Moses. He speaks about the need to keep the commandments of Moses to the point where one’s faithfulness to them surpasses that of the scribes and the pharisees. He quotes the decalogue: “You have heard from your ancestors, Thou shall not kill, Thou shall not commit adultery”, but then calls his disciples deeper. Christians aren’t just to avoid adultery, they must avoid any thought, conversation, or behavior which might lead to adultery; they must avoid lustful gazes, per
verted fantasies, and must avoid the situations which might give rise to adulterous temptations.

And not only does the Lord wish us to avoid the physical act of adultery; he wants for us way of life and spirituality which craves chastity and purity.

This morning we hear the Lord’s prohibition of divorce. Again, he quotes the teaching of Moses, and explains how the allowance for divorce by Moses clearly falls short of what God wants for us. Again, he calls Christian disciples to something more. Don’t just avoid divorce, but the sort of behavior which  leads to divorce: the great acts of selfishness and sins against fidelity yes, but also the attitudes and behaviors which slowly undermine marriage—the impatience, the cutting remarks, the resentments, the selfish indulgences, the poor communication, the failure to reach out for help when things get rocky.

Christian couples must crave and strive for the attitudes and behaviors which promote healthy marriage, and the prayer life to support it...and we must help them, because the world sure isn't.

To quote our departed Bishop Richard Lennon: “when marriages are centered on God, they will be charged and changed by God’s presence. But when they are centered on false idols of money, pleasure, or the pursuit of the good life as our world understands it, they will reap a harvest of exhaustion and unhappiness.”

It is significant that the Lord speaks about Marriage so clearly in his Sermon on the Mount, for he knows marriages, solid Christian marriages which are filled with His Divine Life, will be fundamental for His Church. Our world certainly does not promote healthy marriages, so our Church and our parish, need to fight for strong, healthy, Christ-centered marriages which surpass the corrupt, empty values of the fallen world.

And may we all seek the life of virtue, prayer, and penance which enables us to be filled with the Divine Life God wants for us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the preaching and teaching and charitable works of the Church will inspire all people to seek to radical holiness and obedience to the commands of God.

That those in public office may govern with wisdom, put an end to all political corruption, and work for a society of authentic justice and peace with special care for the most vulnerable.

For an end to oppression, racism, hatred, addiction and injustice. For the healing of all the sick.
For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life, for a strengthening of marriages, for all single people who strive to follow Christ, and for the grace to utilize our spiritual gifts for the building up of the Church.

That those who have died may share in the joy of life-everlasting; for our deceased family members, friends, and fellow parishioners, for all the poor souls in purgatory for Earl Kestler, for whom this Mass is offered.

O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

10th Week of OT 2020 - Wednesday - Beatitudes of Christ and Law of Moses

We continue to read from the Lord’s great Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of Matthew. The Lord, remember, began his sermon with the Beatitudes. Like Moses atop Mount Sinai communicating the law of God to the Israelites, the Lord, atop the mount of Beatitudes delivered a set of new commandments for his disciples: we must become poor of spirit, we must mourn our sins, we must become pure of heart, we must hunger and thirst for righteousness, we must be willing to be persecuted for the Gospel.

After delivering these new commandments, the Lord, just a few verses later, explains the relationship of his teachings with the commandments delivered by Moses. As we heard today, he says, I’ve not come to do away with the Law, but to fulfill the Law. The beatitudes do not replace the law of Moses, they are added to it in a sense.

Christian disciples will need to keep the tenets of the moral law, the 10 commandments and such, in order to remain in right relationship with God. But then, we must also keep the beatitudes and all the teachings of the Lord, and all of his authoritative interpretation of the Old Law, so we may become salt of the earth and light for the world, as we heard yesterday. Our inner conformity and outward activity must set an example for non-believers, for little ones, for children, neophytes, and those weak of faith.

It is amazing how the Lord connects our duty to God and our duty to our neighbor. We have a duty to God to follow these commandments, a duty to the Lord to strive to live out the beatitudes, and in doing so, we point our neighbor to a deeper love of God. When we fail in our duty to keep the commandments, we are also, in a sense failing our neighbor. And when we fail to love our neighbor, we are failing to love our God.

But, when we do obey the commandments and teach others to do so, our Lord says, we will be great in the kingdom of heaven. We merit, through obedience and love, greater and greater shares in the divine life of God. The one who loves little will be rewarded with little, but the one who loves much will be rewarded with much.

With the Lord’s help may we truly mourn our failures to keep the commandments, and repent of them, that is to change our minds and change our hearts, that they may be conformed in all things to the mind and heart of Christ for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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That the preaching and teaching and charitable works of the Church will inspire all people to seek to practice and keep the commandments of God.

That those in public office may govern with wisdom, put an end to all political corruption, and work for a society of authentic justice and peace with special care for the most vulnerable.

For an end to oppression, racism, hatred, addiction and injustice. For the healing of all the sick.

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated religious life, for a strengthening of marriages, for all single people who strive to follow Christ, and for the grace to utilize our spiritual gifts for the building up of the Church.

That those who have died may share in the joy of life-everlasting; for our deceased family members, friends, and fellow parishioners, for all the poor souls in purgatory for Dennis Dentzer, for whom this Mass is offered.

O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.