2nd Week of Advent 2023 - Friday - Games people play

There is a famous book on human psychology published back in the 1960s called “Games People Play.”  The book isn’t talking about board games like monopoly or trivial pursuit, or children’s games like hop-scotch or kick the can.  The book explains the often selfish and manipulative "games" adults play with each other in their interpersonal relationships. Think of a boss who throws tantrums in order to get his employees to do his bidding, or a beautiful woman using her voluptuousness to get what she wants.

We even play games with ourselves—little lies we tell ourselves in order to justify certain behavior:  “I’m so stressed, I deserve to eat an entire carton of cookie dough ice cream. Or, I had such a hard day, I deserve to have six whiskies.” We dismiss what is wise in exchange for the foolish games because foolishness provides more immediate gratification--certainly a characteristic of our fallen nature.

In the Gospel today, Jesus talks about playing games with God.  He describes the behavior of his generation as a bunch of children playing games in the street instead of taking the word of God seriously; they are foolishly parading through life, mocking Christ’s message instead of heeding the message, seeking to understand Christ’s wisdom.

In our own day, many have turned Advent and Christmas into just another game, just another form of entertainment. The music, the lights, the gifts, and the parties are part of an annual parade for our enjoyment. 

Rather, the Church’s observance of Advent invites the worldly—the game players—to a deeper understanding and experience of God. There is more to Christmas than Christmas-flavored gratification and trying to trigger childlike-wonder through nostalgia. Advent echoes the call of the Gospel to something more than what the world offers—more than all of those social games we play in order to feel better about ourselves. Advent is the call to turn away from all of those things in order to encounter God. 

But this is not simply an invitation to the non-believer. Christians too do well to examine the games we play with God, our neighbor, and ourselves. What lies do I tell myself in order not to pray as much as I should? What lies do I tell myself in order to indulge in sinful behavior? What lies do I tell myself in order not to serve the mission of the Church as much as I should? What lies do I tell myself in order not to reach out to the estranged and the lonely?

Advent involves the call to deeper conversion for all people. May the Holy Spirit lead us to the change of heart, the change of attitude, the change of behavior God wants for us, that conforming our lives to Christ, we may bear his truth and love to all the word, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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As we await with longing the Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ, we raise up our prayers of petitions.

That Christ may visit his holy Church and always find her repentant of sin and watchful in prayer.

That Christ may fill the Pope, our Bishop, and all the clergy with spiritual gifts and graces.

That Christ may guide the minds of those who govern us to promote the common good according to His Holy Will.

That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, and ward off every affliction.

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

Almighty ever-living God, who bring salvation to all and desire that no one should perish, hear the prayers of your people and grant that the course of our world may be directed by your peaceful rule and your Church rejoice in tranquility and devotion. Through Christ our Lord.

32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time 2023 - The Kingdom of Heaven

 Throughout the Gospels we can find the Lord giving teachings and offering parables about the kingdom of heaven. 

“The kingdom of heaven” is a phrase appearing over 100 times in the New Testament—30 times just in Matthew’s Gospel.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “You are Peter, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, a pearl of great price which a man…sells all that he has to purchase. “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed” “The kingdom of heaven is like what happens to these 10 virgins” in the Gospel today.

The kingdom of heaven stands at the very center of the Lord’s preaching. After emerging from the desert after 40 days of fasting and withstanding the temptations of the devil, the very first words Jesus proclaims are “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” “Metanoeite ēngiken gar hē basileia tōn ouranōn” in St. Matthew’s Greek. 

What does he mean, the kingdom of heaven? The kingdom is the realization and fulfillment of God’s kingship—God’s sovereignty, God’s will for creation. “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done”. 

The fall of man occurred when we set our wills against that the will of God, thus introducing disorder, suffering, and death into the world. But the kingdom of heaven involves a turning away from disorder and evil, toward the goodness of the will of God. Our feelings, our opinions, our sentiments, and our choices are disordered when they fail to conform with the will of God. So to be part of the kingdom is to allign your mind, your heart, and your will in union with the will of God.

Second, every kingdom has a throne, and the throne of God’s kingdom, is in heaven: “thy kingdom come…on earth as it is in heaven.” From heaven Christ the King descended from the bosom of the Father, he established the Church as the beginnings of his kingdom on earth, and that kingdom will have its final consummation again in the eternal kingdom of heaven. 

Thirdly, this kingdom isn't simply God's reign over individual people. God’s kingdom involves a communion of people—a gathering together of a people in the Spirit—a people of faith—a community of sons and daughters. Creation is brought into a beautiful and heavenly harmony when we join together as willing subjects and servants of our God and King.

During this life of ours, we are given a choice—of which kingdom will we pledge our loyalty, our lives. Will we follow serve the fallen kingdom by simply giving into the passions of our fallen nature, or will we choose to ally and exercise our wills with God through discipleship of Jeus Christ. 

And this choice isn’t simply about giving God lip service. God sees through our lip service. For "Not every one that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven: but he that does the will of My Father who is in heaven"

In the Gospel, the Lord offers a parable illustrating the great choice, the most important choice: will we choose to be like the wise virgins, who are prepared for the coming of the bridegroom, or like the foolish virgins who are locked out of the heavenly banquet forever. This is the most important choice, because it is the choice between heaven and hell. 

This choice for heaven or for hell is one that is made in the many choices of our life, a choice that is finalized at the moment of our death, when each of us faces our particular judgment. The Catechism says, “Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven-through a purification or immediately, -- or immediate and everlasting damnation.” 

This judgment will take into account the state of our souls at the time of death—did we die in a state of grace, or with our souls devoid of grace because of sin. Did we accept or reject grace, truth, faith, and love? Did we harden our souls toward God through pride, or open them up to the life of God through humility? Did we seek to live by wisdom or to abide by foolishness?

Heaven is at stake for us. But heaven is promised to the wise. But what is heaven? It is peace and joy and life forever. Catechism says, in heaven the blessed will not be wounded any longer by sin, stains, or self-love, that destroy or wound…The beatific vision, in which God opens himself in an inexhaustible way to the elect, will be the ever-flowing well-spring of happiness, peace, and mutual communion.”

In heaven, God “will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.”

Scripture speaks of heaven in so many images: life, light, peace, wedding feast, rich wine, banquet, rooms in the Father’s mansion, paradise: "no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him."

Unsurpassable joy will be experienced in the participation in God’s eternal “kingdom of justice, love, and peace.” The blessed will be raised to the resurrection of life, and the wicked to the resurrection of eternal condemnation.

Heaven is the greatest reward for those who finish the race, and the loss of heaven is greatest tragedy for those who run away from it. The parable shows us that spiritual preparation is rewarded and spiritual procrastination—putting of repentance, putting off conversion, putting off faith, is perilous. 

So, the Lord warns us, “stay awake”. There are so many forces in our world that seek to lull us to spiritual sleep, so many voices seeking convince us that taking religion seriously is only for silly fundamentalists and scrupulous fanatics. The world says, everybody goes to heaven anyway, so why put forth any effort. These are lies. Heaven is not a guarantee. If it were, why would the Lord so often stress the importance of choice: the choice to believe, the choice to live, the choice to forgive. The path to heaven begins here with the choice of Christian discipleship until our last mortal breath. 

May each of us, with the help of God, exercise that personal responsibility for our souls, that requires us to seek and live according to the wisdom of God, Jesus Christ the Lord, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

22nd Week in OT 2018 - Thursday - Foolishness and Wisdom

The Old Testament takes up, quite often, the error of foolishness or folly.

 “Folly”, says the book of Proverbs, “brings joy to one who has no sense, but whoever has understanding keeps a straight course.” The fool says in his heart “there is no God”, he acts as if God didn’t exist, as if God did not reveal how we are to live. This sort of foolishness is an epidemic in our modern day. The writer of Ecclesiastes acknowledges, “I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness.” Foolishness is often associated with sin and sinfulness. Psalm 38 speaks of the wound that festers because of our sinful folly. Folly is opposed to wisdom, self-discipline, righteousness, truth, discernment and prudence.

So, St. Paul’s words to the Corinthians this morning, are quite strange, for he claims that we, Christians, are to become fools. He quickly clarifies though, we are to be foolish, not in the ways of God, but in the ways of the world. The way of the world is to seek pleasure and riches, indulge in any form of immorality, to ignore the calls of the poor, to simply eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we shall die. The way, the true way of Jesus Christ, calls us to be foolish of these attitudes, to “cast out into deep waters” as the Lord encourages us in the Gospel, to seek first the kingdom of God.

St. Theresa of Calcutta, whose feast we celebrated, just yesterday, echoed the sentiments of St. Paul, when she spoke about the life of poverty and service that she and her missionary sisters engage in. She said, “To the world, we are wasting precious life and burying our talents…We have nothing to live on, yet we live splendidly; nothing to walk on, yet we walk fearlessly; nothing to lean on, but yet we lean on God confidently; for w are his own and he is our provident Father.”

How can we grow in the wisdom of God, which recognizes the error of the world and the truth of the Gospel? An old proverb states that the only way to knowledge is to confess our ignorance, the only way to become wise is to confess our foolishness. This resonates with the Christian attitude that we must be humble enough to confess that we’ve been all too foolish in the ways of God, we are to humble ourselves so that we may be taught by God.

We do well to make a regular thorough examination of our lives in light of the entire Word of God. We do well to compare ourselves and our pursuits to the saints and their pursuits. Saints who spent their time in service, study, preaching, penance, and prayer show the folly of our self-centered pursuits. We do well to ask our Guardian Angels to make us aware of our foolish attitudes and behaviors, after all, they have to put up with our foolishness more than anybody.

Our commitment to Christ, our sacrifices for Him and His Gospel, our carrying of the cross is foolishness in the eyes of the world, but His, and His alone, is the way that leads to eternal life, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That all Christians may seek to grow in the wisdom of God through study, prayer, penance, and charity.
That our young people may be kept safe from the errors and poison of the world, so to grow in the ways of righteousness and truth.
For all the needs of the sick and the suffering, the homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, the underemployed and unemployed, victims of natural disaster, war, abuse, and terrorism, for the sanctification of the clergy, for all those who grieve the loss of a loved one, and those who will die today, for their comfort, and the consolation of their families.
For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests, deacons and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.
Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord.

Thursday - 1st Week in OT 2018 - Why does God allow us to be defeated?

I saw a sign on the side of the road the other day and it said something like: “Everything happens for a reason, but sometimes the reason is that you don’t think things through and make bad decisions.”

In their campaign to claim the land of Canaan as their divine inheritance, Israel for the most part had driven out or made peace with the Canaanites. The Philistines however remained a formidable enemy. As we heard in the reading today, when it came time to face the Philistines in battle, Israel was surprised that they lost the battle.

They ask themselves, “Why did God let this happen to us? Why did he let us suffer defeat?” Maybe, we’ve asked similar question: in a time of national or family tragedy, a serious illness, an ongoing hardship, “why is this happening to me?”

But, Notice how the Israelites  didn’t ask God that question, they ask themselves. They ruminate about their suffering, their loss, instead of bringing their suffering to God. They keep God at a distance, as an abstraction.

And then the Israelite elders decided to do something very foolish. They decide to battle the Philistines again, but this time they will take the Ark of the Covenant with them. Now again, God is an afterthought, and instead of attempting to discern God’s will on this matter, they hijack the ark from the Priests, and they bring the ark into battle, not out of faith, but as a magical totem.

Now the Philistines were initially intimidated by the presence of the Ark. They had heard how the God of Israel had brought victory to His people in the past. But, the Philistines mustered themselves, and they defeated Israel seven times worse than in the first battle.

Why did God allow this to happen? Likely, to teach Israel to rely not on their own wits and strengths, but on Him. To discern His will and act upon it, always. At this point in history, too, Israel is steeped in sin and pride. Just, look at their irreverence and mistreatment of the Holy Ark.  If, as individuals, as a nation, or as a local Christian community, live in sin and foolishness and error, we will suffer the consequences, that our pride may be humbled.

Not a popular message, but an important one: to seek not our own will, to attempt, not to bribe or manipulate God for our own purposes, to not make God's will an afterthought, but to seek first the kingdom of God, to seek the cure for the leprosy of sin, as we heard about in the Gospel, that we may be redeemed by God’s mercy and walk in his ways of righteousness, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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To God the Father Almighty we direct the prayers of our heart for the needs and salvation of humanity and the good of His faithful ones.

For the holy Church of God, that the Lord may graciously watch over her and care for her.

For the peoples of the world, that the Lord may graciously preserve harmony among them.

For all who are oppressed by any kind of nee, that the Lord may graciously grant them relief.

For ourselves and our own community, that the Lord may graciously receive us as a sacrifice acceptable to himself.

For our beloved dead, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for X, for whom this Mass is offered.

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

Friday - 2nd Week of Advent 2017 - Freedom from self-delusion

In yesterday’s Gospel, Jesus proclaimed that “among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist.” He praises John for his humility, his service, his willingness to undergo suffering for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. And then in today’s Gospel, Jesus compare’s John’s attitude, with these noisy, disagreeable children, foolishly parading through the marketplace, mocking Jesus, and missing the point of his presence among them.

Jesus is saying, John gets, but many don’t: John rightly identifies Jesus as the Son of God, others misidentify Jesus as just another charlatan or entertainer; John prepares well for the coming of the Messiah, many remain unprepared, foolishly parading through life, mocking Christ’s message.

This foolishness has continued through the ages, and continues in our own day. Holy Church prepares rightly for the Advent of Christ, the world plays foolish games; Holy Church repents, engages in works of mercy, prayers more fervently, the world acts continues down its road of self-delusion, self-indulgence, and self-destruction.

Yet, there is certainly a challenge for all of us to consider the games we play with God: instead of repenting, instead of praying more fervently, instead of seeking out volunteer service opportunities, what games do we play with God, what excuses do we make?

Our games do not bring peace of soul, gentleness, or joy; they perpetuate restlessness, family division, and addiction. As Jesus says, “Wisdom is vindicated by her works”. God sees through our games, through our self-delusion. But we can be sure that God desires nothing more than to free us from them.

21st century Christians must be very careful, that our attitude towards Advent, our attitude towards Jesus, doesn’t mimic the moral and spiritual laxity of our age, but follows the wisdom of the saints, the humble seriousness of John the Baptist, the solemn surrender of the Blessed Mother.

May our Advent devotions bring us freedom from the foolish and selfish attitudes of our age into a deeper and more authentic faithfulness to the Gospel for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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We raise up our prayers of petition, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.

That Advent repentance and devotion may prepare us rightly for Christmas joy.

That our president and all civil servants will carry out their duties with justice, honesty, and respect for the dignity of every human life.  We pray to the Lord.

For the conversion of those who reject Jesus and His Church, those who have fallen into serious sin, and those who have fallen away from the Church.

That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, and ward off every affliction.

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

Almighty ever-living God, who brings salvation to all and desire that no one should perish, hear the prayers of your people and grant that the course of our world may be directed by your peaceful rule and your Church rejoice in tranquility and devotion. Through Christ our Lord.