7th Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Friday - "Do not complain about one another"

 Our spiritual director in seminary, Fr. John Loya, always used to say that we must avoid the ABCs: arguing, blaming, and complaining. ABC. Whether it’s with family, strangers, fellow seminarians, or parishioners, avoid the ABCs, arguing, blaming, and complaining.

St. James, in our first reading, gives a similar teaching: “Do not complain, brothers and sisters, about one another.”

It is acceptable to grieve over the difficulties of life, and to cry to God over the injustices we suffer. There is an entire book of the Old Testament, the book of Lamentations, which consists of anguished cries over the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians. Many of Psalms consist of lamentation. To bring ones miseries, ones trials and tribulations to God, can be a holy thing. We should bring to God our concerns, for the people of Ukraine, for example, our concerns for innocent life, and peace, and the salvation of fallen away Catholics.

But there is a form of complaining which is sinful. In the book of Numbers, the complaining of the Israelites in the desert displeased the Lord. Numbers 11 says, “And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled”.

There is a difference between bringing ones anguish and concern to the Lord and the sort of distrustful complaining the Israelites were manifesting. The Israelites murmured against God himself, his plans, claiming some defect in God’s providence. They hardened their hearts toward God and complained, not because his care was defective, but because his care was not exactly what they wanted. God often gives us what we need, not necessarily what we want. This form of sinful complaining is a sin against faith and trust in God’s providence.

St. James, this morning, condemns, complaining, not so much about God’s plans and God’s ways, but about our neighbors.

St. James is realistic about the problems Christians face. Due to our many faults, we often get under each other’s skins. We irritate each other. We fail each other. We don’t live up to each other’s expectations. And so we are tempted to sinful complaining. 

And St. James, this morning, is saying, “stop it.” “Do not complain,” rather, endure the faults of others with persevering patience. “Do everything without complaining or arguing” says St. Paul to the Philippians. 

Both James and Paul are in agreement, that sinful complaining is a form of unholy discord. Complaining introduces bitterness into otherwise sweet conversations. It the sign of an impatient, even a narcissistic heart. Complaining can easily become such a vice that some people’s entire personalities become warped by their constant complaining. “Complaining damages the heart,” Pope Francis said, a few years ago.   

Complaining is not a fruit of the Spirit. In fact, it is detrimental to the peace, joy, and patience that come from the Spirit. It is a poison, an acid, that erodes the bonds of unity and charity. It undermines the work of the Church.

As Christians, we must bridle our tongues, guard our tongues from such evils, and use our tongues, to speak the good things men need to hear, the call to holiness through Christian discipleship, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That Christians may have the grace to love one another with patience, kindness, gentleness, and mercy.

In the recent words of Bishop Malesic, for “an immediate end to the hostilities, for a restoration of peace and for the safety of all Ukrainian citizens…[and] for the Ukrainian community in Northeast Ohio, that their friends and family members in their beloved homeland be kept out of harm’s way.”

For healing for all those suffering disease, especially diseases without known cures, 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.

17th Week in OT 2020 - Tuesday - The Prophet Weeps, but hopes

Jeremiah the prophet, wept deeply, over the inevitable destruction of Jerusalem and Judah. The Jews living in the south of Israel, as we heard yesterday in that unforgettable scene, had become soiled—like a soiled loincloth. They had allowed the corrupt practices of Babylon to spread among them. Their children, instead of learning to love God with their whole hearts—were worshiping idols and engaging in the corrupt moral practices of Babylon.

So Jeremiah wept. The Lord 600 years or so later, would also weep over Jerusalem for largely rejecting the Gospel message.

Many of us, too, look out at the corruption of the world, the overwhelming number of Catholics who have left the Church. So many weak bishops, so many weak priests. Young people not learning to love God, not being brought to the sacraments by their parents. And we weep.

But Jeremiah did not simply weep, he prayed. He prayed for deliverance from the evils afflicting Judah. He prayed for the salvation of that once holy city. He prayed for a savior. Now some might say that Jeremiah was simply focusing on the negative. I don’t think so. Jeremiah saw the consequences of faithlessness rightly. And he wasn’t just weeping and ringing his hands. The man had been out in the streets preaching, delivering the prophetic message to repent. He was a man of action as well.

In the Gospel, the Lord explains the parable of the weeds and the wheat to his disciples. He explains that yes, there will be tremendous evil in the world. Christians will have to strive to remain faithful to the Gospel amidst terrible, toxic evil. And evil is going to be so insidious, it will often disguise itself—like a wolf in sheep’s clothing—weeds and wheat, during our earthly life, will often appear indistinguishable.

But, before we are tempted to withdraw in isolation from the world, the Lord tells us we must live out in the world, not through isolation from our adversities, but through the unceasing struggle with the weeds that the enemy has planted.

We will grow in holiness and we will find our salvation when we struggle to remain faithful in spite of the sins and weaknesses in our hearts and in spite of the adversity we experience out in the world. And yes, we weep over the sad state of the world, but we must never let our tears keep us from our Gospel mandate.

We don’t know who is a weed and who is wheat, so we preach the Gospel without reservation to all people, we invite all people to conversion, to experience the grace and life the Lord won for us through his own suffering and death, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For the conversion of hearts hardened to the Gospel, for those who have fallen away from the Church, for non-believers and unrepentant sinners, and that Christians may be attentive to our responsibility of sharing the Gospel with all. We pray to the Lord.

For the purification of our minds and hearts from the errors of the culture and from the lure of worldly attachments. We pray to the Lord.

That leaders of nations may find guidance in the Word of God for proper governance and the pursuit of justice for all.

That Christian families may be places where the Christian faith is studied, understood, observed, and cherished.

For all those who suffer illness, those in hospitals, nursing homes and hospice care.

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, the deceased members of our families friends and parishes, for those who fought and died for our freedom, and N. 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 goodness, and grant, we pray, that what we ask in faith we may truly obtain