Michel DeVerteuil
Textual Comments
Today’s passage contains several sayings of Jesus which are very well known; we must therefore make an effort to read the passage not as abstract teaching but as a story, letting the message emerge from the interplay of characters.
1. Jesus’ disciples are humble people. They are not “respectable” or refined. They do not conform to social norms (“the traditions of the elders”) in how they speak, dress or, in this case, “eat with unclean hands”. In the gospels they are classified as “sinners”, those who “break the law”. To judge from Jesus’ remarks in this passage, they are not malicious, their hearts are not unclean.
2. The “Pharisees and scribes” are those who set the norms, in words and in practice. They observe and teach the rules of respectability, their etiquette is beyond reproach. But they are judgmental of those who do not conform; they do not take time to understand them and in the process they are blind to the fact that they go against basic virtues such as humanity and compassion.
Very significantly, the text says that they have “come from Jerusalem”. The company of Jesus and his disciples is not their home territory; they are out of place among these new people.
3. Jesus as always is the protector of the poor. He sees the greatness and beauty that lie beneath their rough externals, defends them passionately against their oppressors. He is harsh with the scribes and Pharisees, but his harshness (as God’s harshness in the Bible) is because of his concern for the poor.
The movement of the story shows the process by which the Church, and every human community dedicated to noble ideals, gradually becomes set in its ways and ends up accepting the false values of the surrounding culture. The Bible always gives a simple criterion for recognizing when this happens – the poor and the marginalized in a country end up being poor and marginalized in the Christian community as well.
The root problem lies with laws that exist originally to protect the weak but end up on the side of the powerful. Someone like Jesus must come on the scene and expose the “hypocrisy” of the community by standing up for the lowly. The community is then forced to revisit its laws in order to distinguish the true ideals of the community (“God’s commandment”) from the “human regulations” which maintain the status quo.
Every community and movement needs laws and customs, as Jesus always taught; but they must be constantly re-examined to see of they conform to God’s laws.
The passage invites us to recognize God-in-Jesus at work in this way in our Church communities and in the world.
We will recognize him at work within our individual selves too. Often we allow ourselves to be oppressed by so-called “laws” that are not from God but are social taboos (gender or ethnic stereotypes, for example). Now they simply block our true selves (“the heart”). One day Jesus comes into our lives – through a friend, a spiritual guide or a moment of prayer – and rescues us from oppression.
Being God’s instrument of liberation is often the principal role of the counselor or spiritual guide. It is also the lofty vocation of the moral theologian in the Church.
Prayer Reflection
Lord, we remember times when we felt out of place,
– among people wealthier or better educated than ourselves;
– when we returned to church after staying away for many years;
– because we were not as successful as our brothers and sisters;
– in a strange country where no one understood what we said.
It was like when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come to Jerusalem
gathered around Jesus and noticed that his disciples
were eating without first washing their hands.
We too were made to feel that we were unclean
because we did not respect the traditions of the elders.
We thank you that you sent someone like Jesus who protected us
– one of our parents, an uncle, an aunt or a grandparent,
– a teacher or community leader,
– a friend who understood what we were going through,
– a book that touched us.
They taught us that what counts in life are the things that come from within,
these are the things that make us unclean.
We were able then to recognize what is merely custom
and in fact keeps people far from the truth of themselves.
Lord, forgive us members of your Church
that we focus on being loyal member of your Church and keeping its laws,
while we put aside your first and only commandment of universal love and compassion,
ignoring sexism, racism, elitism, cultural imperialism and religious intolerance,
all these evil things which come from within the worst of the human heart
and make humanity unclean.
Lord, we thank you for sending us Bernard Haring
and other great moral theologians of our time.
Church discipline had become set in its ways
and was reinforcing the false values of our culture
– laws on divorce and remarriage were weighted against deprived families;
– liturgical rules reinforced the superiority of Western culture;
– seminary studies did not reverence traditional religions of Africa and Asia;
– sexual morality favoured men;
– the laity were deprived of our teachings on mysticism.
Bernard Haring and other prophetic figures were the presence of Jesus among us,
showing that judgements were being passed by an elite,
isolated from the reality of people’s experiences
like the Pharisees and scribes coming down from Jerusalem.
What were called the customs of the elders were rules concerned with external cleanliness
which the humble could not live up to.
Doctrines were put forward as if they came from you
when in fact they were only human regulations;
your commandment of universal love was put aside so that traditions could be upheld.
We thank you that Jesus was in them, calling your Church to listen – all of us –
and understand that nothing which comes to us from outside can make us unclean;
only the things that come from our hearts make us unclean.
Lord, we pray that in our parish liturgies
we will give every opportunity to the marginalized,
– allow those without much education to read
– arrange processions in which the disabled can take part
– ensure that foreigners can understand the homily
– give special welcome to those who cannot receive communion.
In this way we will not honour you only with lip service
but our hearts will be close to you, our worship will be precious to you,
and we will be following your teachings, not mere human regulations.
Lord, your will is that we should live with people very different from us
– those of other religions
– ancestral cultures of Africa, Asia, and Latin America,
– different ethnic groups
– the world of high technology
– the youth culture of today.
Help us not to become like Pharisees and scribes coming to Galilee from Jerusalem,
noticing how others do things differently from us.
Help us to discern what in our culture is merely human regulations
which do not make anyone clean or unclean,
so that we will repent of paying only lip service to the lofty principles we proclaim
and recognise that so much of what we call holy is worthless
and that many of what we call doctrines are only human regulations.
Lord, we thank you that in our time the Bible has become once more the soul of your Church’s theology, enabling us to recognise that many of what we called biblical doctrines were no more than human regulations.
Lord, we thank you for moments of deep prayer
when you showed us clearly that the laws we were breaking
did not make us unclean because they were only human regulations,
that we could go beyond them and find our purity of heart.
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Thomas O’Loughlin
Introduction to the Celebration
We gather here because Jesus has made us welcome. He has called us, he has chosen us, he desires that we love one another around his table.
This is our great religious gathering: we affirm who we are, what we believe, we ask the Father for our needs, and we thank him for our lives and all our blessings.
So what are the characteristic human qualities with which we should approach God? For many, it is some notion of being ‘clean’, or having observed all the minute rules, having done and said all the correct things connected with religion. Today, Jesus lifts us completely out of that view. In order to be able to stand here in the presence of the Father, we must be people whose lives bring forth good for others, who do not injure others, and who seek to care for others.
Homily Notes
1. This gospel’s message can seem trite to the point of irrelevance. Our society takes three things for granted — indeed, it makes them the basis for much of its thinking about religion in general and about Christian observance in particular. First, active morality is more important than religious ritual. Second, intention is more important than following prescriptions about details: following conscience is the high road to moral integrity. Third, what’s really important in what religious leaders, such as Jesus, have taught is basic human morality: so avoiding murder, theft, and avarice are more important in living a good life than regular prayers or obeying rules on ‘observances’. All that ‘mere ritual’ can be put to one side, so long as we behave morally towards others. There is much truth in all of this — so is today’s gospel simply Jesus’s affirmation of this position?
2. If this is so, then this piece of gospel, good news, is not really good news at all! Moreover, in the early communities where this was preached they were careful about regular prayer, gathering for the Eucharist, and conveying a new style of living — so is this gospel really saying that all that activity was really irrelevant, and that so long as people conscientiously followed a way of respecting others, then the ‘religious bits’ were dispensable? That is how many would read or want to read this gospel: care of others is fine, care of the planet is fine, some spirituality (as a private commodity) is fine. But ‘religion’ with its group observances, its gatherings, and its demands is just old hat! And, according to the way that many people read this gospel, it seems that Jesus agrees.
3. Therefore, this is a very good day to point out just how easy it is to hear ancient scriptures, imagine that one understands them, and then go off with totally the wrong idea. The essence of all fundamentalism is to take ancient writings from another culture, another way of thinking and understanding, and to colonise them so that they mean what we think they mean in our culture. Therefore, preaching today should have two objectives. First, to show the gathering just how easy it is to read a text and take completely the wrong message from it — and, thereby, to show them the dangers of biblical fundamentalism. The second objective is incidental: to show how this gospel still has a key message for us, and how we might get at it.
4. Showing the dangers of fundamentalism is something that has to be done in a number of steps.
Step 1: To show that a ‘simple’, so-called ‘obvious”plain’ reading of the text, leads to a contradiction. Namely: if it is the case that the ‘religious bits’ can be just sidelined in favour of being kind to one’s neighbour, why did the early Christians who first heard this gospel — and were in a far better position to understand it that we are — pay such attention to those very religious bits?
Step 2: If the ‘plain, simple’ reading leads to a contradiction (i.e. ‘it just does not add up’), then are we missing something in today’s gospel? We should note that the Pharisees do not accuse Jesus’s disciples of being bad people, nor do they accuse them of being unjust, or even of lacking in holiness. What they accuse them of being is unclean.
Step 3: We still use in everyday life the notions of being just/unjust (this is a quality of individuals); we also use the notions of being caring / uncaring (again, a quality of individuals); and we even, sometimes use the notion of being ‘holy’ — but we tend to think of it in terms of individuals so we say X or Y is a holy person, but we have difficulty nowadays in thinking of a collectivity as holy as in ‘the holy church of God.’
However, we do not use the notion of clean/ unclean as a category for people.
So to understand today’s gospel, we must first discover what the notion of clean / unclean (alien concepts in our culture) meant in a culture that is very foreign to our own.
Step 4: Clean/unclean are not individual virtues, but social qualities: the real danger of someone doing something unclean is not what it does to the person as an individual, but what it does to the whole group to which the person belongs. This is a very different way of thinking to how we think: the whole group is affected by what we think of as purely private actions. The reason that the Pharisees are worried about what the disciples are doing is not because they are concerned for the souls of the disciples, but because they are concerned for themselves! The impure actions of the disciples is making everyone — who is gathered in the same place as the disciples — unclean!
We can barely understand this type of thinking. Perhaps the nearest we come to it is when there is a flu bug about and people are asked to stay at home, not because it will make them better, but because it will stop it spreading and make the larger group unwell. Uncleanness is like a contagion: the whole group suffers because of the carelessness and lack of group awareness and group care of individuals.
Step 5: Knowing that, how are we to understand this gospel? Jesus does not dismiss the notion of uncleanness, he changes the list of actions by which an individual can damage the whole group, and its ability to stand before God as a holy people. The actions of individuals that damage the whole group, its ability to be the people of God, its ability to stand before God and ask for its needs and the needs of humanity (as we will do in the Prayers of the Faithful) and its ability to reflect God’s love to the world is the list given at the end of the gospel.
Step 6: Each hearer of the gospel gathered today (especially clergy in the aftermath of child sex-abuse scandals within the church in recent years) have to ask how his/her individual actions have not only damaged them as individuals, but have had the effect of making the whole people unclean, unholy, unfit to stand before the world as the Body of Christ.
5. Discovering how easy it is to slip into fundamentalism is something that takes most people by surprise: and it is a lesson we have to learn over and over again. Discovering the ‘deeper’ meaning of the gospel — as opposed to a trite message that suits us — can also be a painful surprise: today is a case in point.
**********************************
Sean Goan: Gospel
As we return to Mark we find ourselves in yet another story of conflict between Jesus and his opponents. Here the Pharisees are reprimanding the followers of Jesus for not engaging in ritual washing before they eat.This is an example of a tradition handed down in Pharisee circles which had come to have the full force of the written Law. Jesus has little time for their legalism and quotes from Isaiah to make his point. This is only lip service to God who does not care about their external observances but who desires a true worship of the heart. A person cannot be made unclean by external factors, eg the failure to observe purely religious ritual; rather we are made unclean by that which comes from within, from our hearts, the source of our moral action.
Reflection
If a survey were to be conducted among churchgoers in which they were asked for a definition of religion it is unlikely that many would come up with the simple answer provided by James. Coming to the help of orphans and widows would be for many a kind of agreeable by-product of religion whereas James places it right at the centre of who we are and what we do. This is surely a message for today when so many people go to such great lengths in their search for wisdom and the knowledge of God. A religion that can be observed at a purely external level has a certain appeal. It is easy to feel we are making progress and that we are better than those who do not measure up. We imagine that by our own efforts we can come close to God. However, Jesus wants no part in such a sham. He is concerned with the heart and a faith that does justice.
******
From the Connections:
Through the centuries of Judaism, the scribes had constructed a rigid maze of definitions, admonitions, principles and laws to explain the Pentateuch (summarized in Moses’ eloquent words to the nation of Israel in today’s first reading). As a result, the ethics of religion were often buried under a mountain of rules and taboos. Jesus’ teachings re-focus the canons of Israel on the original covenant based on the wisdom and discernment of the human heart. Such a challenge widens the growing gulf between Jesus and the Jewish establishment.
The kind of human being we are begins in the values of the heart, the place where God dwells within — but the evil we are capable of, the hurt we inflict on others, the degrading of the world that God created also begins “within,” when God is displaced by selfishness, greed, anger, hatred.
In the hurts, indignities and injustices perpetrated against us, what is often worse than the act itself is what the act does do us as persons: we respond with suspicion, cynicism, self-absorption, anger, vengeance. To be a disciple of Jesus is not to let those things “outside” us diminish what we are “inside” ourselves, not to let such anger or vengeance displace the things of God in our hearts but to let God’s presence transform the evil that we have encountered into compassion and forgiveness.
So did you buy the right things?
Will you be wearing the right suits in the right colors and the right styles? Have you paid close attention to the labels?
Are you wearing the right shoes, the smartest footwear in the coolest colors?
What about your hair? Is it styled the right way? Will your cut make you fit in with your team, your company, your gang, your circle?
Have you been listening to the right music, reading the right books, seeing the right movies? Can you articulate the right opinions? Know how the political winds are blowing? On board with the accepted positions on the issues?
Is your calendar set — the right parties to go to, the right meetings to attend, the right places to be seen?
Clothes, styles, labels, music, social rituals and beliefs are important to all of us. They mark our identity. Every group of human beings has a tendency to be exclusive; every group wants to know who is on the inside and who is on the outside. So we adopt “identity markers” — visible practices of dress or vocabulary or behavior that serve to distinguish who is inside the group and who is outside.
And nobody wants to be on the outside. We all want to be in, we all want to be a part of the scene, we all want to be on the right side.
So mark well.
The Pharisees in today’s Gospel cherish the “markers” that identify them as part of the Jewish community. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. But Jesus teaches that the markers that should identify us as the people of God are “diets” of justice and peace, the cleaning away of hatred and division, tables that are set with places for all, traditions that honor charity and forgiveness. Our identity as disciples is centered in our hearts, in the spirit of humble gratitude and compassion that we lift up to the Father.
Little to drink
William Barclay, the Scottish theologian, tells the story about an old rabbi who was in a Roman prison. He was on minimal ration of food and water. It was just enough for him to survive. As time passed, the rabbi grew weaker and weaker. Finally, it was necessary to call a doctor. The old man's problem was diagnosed as dehydration. The doctor's report confused the prison officials. They couldn't understand how the rabbi could be dehydrated. Although his daily ration of water was minimal, it was adequate. The guards were told to watch the old man closely to see what he was doing with his water. It was then that the mystery was solved. The guards discovered that the rabbi was using almost all his water to perform religious ritual washings before he prayed and before he ate. As a result, he had little water left to drink.
Mark Link in 'Sunday Homilies'
In today's Gospel, we find the Pharisees attacking Jesus by finding fault with the behaviour of his disciples. They notice that the disciples were eating without washing their hands as the practice of the law demanded, and so they ask Jesus: "Why do your disciples not live according to the traditions of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" Around that time there arose on the part of many Jews the desire to imitate the ritual holiness of their priests. For example, according to the written law, ritual washing was required of all priests before they entered the temple sanctuary. Its purpose was to wash all uncleanliness so that they could worship God more worthily. Gradually the people began to imitate the priests and wash their hands before praying. In a similar way, the washing before meals evolved. By the time of Jesus the Jews observed these oral traditions just as minutely as they did the written laws of the Torah. Perhaps the idea behind all these observances was noble; it was to make religion permeate every action of daily life. But in the course of doing this, religion degenerated into an activity of performing rituals. Observance of these rituals was equated with pleasing God and they became a yardstick of measuring one's own holiness and a criterion of judging others as well. God was out of the picture and the observances became an end in themselves. Rightly, Isaiah said: "This people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me."
Lip Service
A story is told of a Moslem who, while pursuing a man with an upraised knife to kill him, heard the muezzin's call to prayer from the minaret. He stopped, extended his prayer rug, said his prescribed prayers, and then continued his original pursuit after the man he wished to kill. He had said his prayers now he could go about his sordid business. Unfortunately, changing what has to be changed, the same could be observed of some Christians, who while pursuing their sinful activities, may stop to attend church services before getting back to their same old sinful pursuits.
Anonymous
Do we stand for God?
Centuries ago in one of the Egyptian monasteries, a man came and asked to be admitted. The abbot told him that the chief rule was obedience, and the man promised to be patient on all occasions, even under excessive provocation. It chanced that the abbot was holding a dried-up willow stick in his hands; he forthwith fixed the dead stick into the earth and told the newcomer to water it until, against all rules of nature, it should once again become green. Obediently the new monk walked two miles every day to the river Nile to bring a vessel of water on his shoulders and water the dry stick. A year passed by and he was still faithful to his task, though very weary. Another year and still he toiled on. Well into the third year he was still trudging to the river and back, still watering the stick, when suddenly it burst into life. -The green bush alive today is a living witness to the mighty virtues of obedience and faith.
F. H. Drinkwater in 'Quotes and Anecdotes'
The Wrongs of Rites
A disciple once boasted about the effectiveness of his prayers and pilgrimages. His Guru advised him to take a bitter gourd along with him on his pilgrimage to place at every altar, to dip into every holy river and to be blessed at every shrine. When the disciple returned, the Guru reverently conducted a liturgy with the bitter gourd, cut it into pieces, and distributed it as sacramental food. Tasting it he declared, "Isn’t it surprising that all the prayers, pujas and pilgrimages, have not reduced the bitterness of this gourd?" Many people spend much time discussing rectitude of rituals and reinforcement of rites. Isn't it time to stop fighting about rites and rituals and begin fighting for the rights of those orphans and widows mentioned in the Scripture?
Francis Gonsalves in 'Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds'
Their heart is not in it…
A man died recently and went to heaven. He was very happy up there, as he wandered about, exploring the place. One Sunday morning he bumped into Jesus (it could happen up there, just as sure as down here!). Jesus called him over to show him something. He opened a sort of trap door in the floor of heaven, so that the man could look through, and see even as far as the earth below. Eventually, Jesus got to focus his attention on a church, his own local church at home, where there was a full congregation at Mass. The man watched for a while, and then something began to puzzle him. He could see the priest moving his lips, and turning over the pages. He could see the choir holding their hymnals, and the organist thumping the keyboards. But he couldn't hear a sound. It was total silence. Thinking that the amplification system in heaven had broken down, he turned to Jesus for an explanation. Jesus looked at him in surprise. "Didn't anybody ever tell you? We have a rule here that if they don't do those things down there with their hearts, we don't hear them up here at all!"
Jack McArdle in 'And that’s the Gospel truth!'
1) “Put your hand in Jesus’ hand”: For
almost 50 years Mother Teresa worked in the slums of Calcutta, India. She
worked among the most forsaken people on earth. You and I would recoil from
most of the people that she touched every day – the dispossessed, the
downtrodden, the diseased, the desperate. And yet, everybody who met Mother
Teresa remarked on her warm smile. How, after almost 50 years of working in
conditions like that did she keep a warm smile on her face? Mother explains
that it is interesting. “When I was leaving home in Yugoslavia at age of 18 to
become a nun, my mother told me something beautiful and very strange.” She
said, ‘You go put your hand in Jesus’ hand and walk along with him.'” And that
was the secret of Mother Teresa’s life ever after. (Rev. King Duncan). — Many
of us here have good jobs, we live in nice homes, and we have easy situations.
But we don’t have the warm smile on our faces that this little nun, working in
the most desperate situation imaginable, had on her face. What’s the
difference? It may be that we’ve never put our hand in Jesus’ hand. It may be
that we have Jesus only on our lips as St. James remarks in the second reading
and as Jesus remarks in today’s Gospel. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
2) Ritual washing using drinking-water: William
Barclay in The Daily Study Bible tells the story of an old
Jewish rabbi in the Roman prison diagnosed with acute dehydration which would
have led to his death. The prison guards insisted that the rabbi had been
given his quota of drinking water. So the prison doctor and the officer
in charge instructed the guards to watch the rabbi and ascertain what he was
doing with his ration of water. They were shocked to find that the rabbi
was using almost all his water for traditional ritual washing before prayer and
meals. — Today’s Gospel tells us how the tradition-addicted Pharisees
started questioning Jesus when his disciples omitted the ritual washing of
hands in public before a meal. (Mark Link in Sunday Homilies) Fr.
Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
3) “I don’t smoke during Lent!” About 2 o’clock on a cold, blustery morning the rectory telephone rang. “I think grandpa is dying,” an excited voice declared. As it was just two blocks away Fr. Murray decided to walk to anoint the dying man. As he passed an alley a figure with a gun stepped out and demanded: “Give me your money.” The priest told the gunman: “My wallet is in the pocket of my coat. As the priest opened his coat the gunman noticed his Roman collar. He said: “I am sorry, I didn’t know that you were a priest. I beg your pardon Father! Keep your money.” In grateful relief Fr. Murray offered him a cigar. But the fellow shook his head saying, “No Father, thank you very much, but I don’t smoke during Lent!” — In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls such blind observance of rules and tradition, hypocrisy. (Msgr. Arthur Tonne). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
4) Amazing family tradition: Isaac Ole had heard from his
grandma stories of an amazing family tradition in his
family. It seems that his father, grandfather and
great-grandfather had all been able to walk on water on their 21st birthday.
On that day, they’d walk across the lake to the boat club for their first
legal drink. So, when Isaac’s 21st birthday came around, he and his pal
Sven took a boat out to the middle of the lake. Ole stepped out of the
boat and nearly drowned! Sven just managed to pull him to safety. Furious
and confused, Ole went to see his grandmother. “Grandma,” he asked,” it’s
my 21st birthday, so why can’t I walk across the lake like my father, his
father, and his father before him?” Granny looked into Ole’s eyes with a
broad smile and said, “Because your father, grandfather and great-grandfather
were born in January when the lake is frozen, and you were born in July!”
5) The Jewish tradition: Late in the evening, the young Jew
knocked at the door and asked as an elderly man opened the door. “Sir, what
time is it?” The old Jew just stared at him and did not answer.
“Sir forgive me for disturbing you at this time,” said the young Jew,
“but I really want to know what time it is. I have to find a place to
sleep.” The old Jew said, “Son, the inn on the next street is the only
one in this small city. I don’t know you, so you must be a stranger.
If I answer you now, according to our Jewish tradition,
I must invite you to my home. You’re handsome and I have a beautiful
daughter. You will both fall in love and you’ll want to get married.
And tell me, why would I want a son-in-law who can’t even afford a
watch?”
6) Who is the Pharisee? Father O’Malley was going through the mail one day after his powerful sermon on the Pharisaic life of some of his parishioners on the previous Sunday. Drawing a single sheet of paper from an envelope, he found written on it just one word: “FOOL.” The next Sunday at Mass, he announced, “I have known many people who have written letters and forgot to sign their names. But this week I received a letter from someone who signed his name and forgot to write a letter.”
26Additional anecdotes:
1) Bowing tradition: Years ago Harry Emerson
Fosdick told about a Church in Denmark where the worshipers bowed regularly
before a certain spot on the wall. They had been doing that for three centuries
— bowing at that one spot in the sanctuary. Nobody could remember why. One day
in renovating the Church, they removed some of the whitewash on the walls. At
the exact spot where the people bowed they found the image of the Madonna under
the whitewash. People had become so accustomed to bowing before that image that
even after it was covered up for three centuries, people still bowed. Tradition
is a powerful thing. — The Pharisees had learned to substitute tradition,
custom, habit for the presence of the living God. Jaroslav Pelikan once said,
“Tradition is the living Faith of the dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of
the living.” Traditionalism rears its head in many ways, in many times and in
many places. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
2) We are being watched. In many cities, we will
get a ticket for speeding by mail, because photo radar vans sit beneath freeway
underpasses snapping our picture as we speed by, and the gun records our speed,
while the camera focuses on our license plate. Video cameras are popping
up everywhere, like virtual watching eyes. School districts are
installing cameras in school buses to document for unbelieving parents how
their children behave. YMCAs have mounted security cameras everywhere.
Banks and businesses monitor the movements of suspected criminals and
shop-lifters. With Webcams positioned strategically throughout the
child-care center, parents can log on to the Internet to see what’s happening
with their babies. Buzzing along benignly through clear American skies,
the Recon Spy Plane has a hidden, remote-controlled camera that can be
activated from up to 1,000 feet away. All these are meant to force
citizens to behave well. — But we conveniently forget the truth that God
has an all-seeing “Holycam” perched inside our souls enabling Him to see what
is in our hearts and minds. We may get away with appearance-based virtual
morality in society, fooling civil authorities, friends, spouse, or children.
But Jesus gives us a strong warning in today’s Gospel: “Nothing
that enters from outside can defile a person; but the things that come out from
within are what defile” (Mark 7:15). Jesus is cautioning us not
to be like some Pharisees who passed themselves off as pious, always performing
the correct rites and keeping tradition-based observances, but whose inner
lives were polluted with the stench of the graveyard. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
3) Reluctant to break the Sabbath law: Dr.
Laura Schlessinger, a psychologist, is appalled by the culture of moral
relativism that has pervaded our society. In her book, How Could You Do
That? Dr. Laura tells of a call from a young woman who was living with her
fiancé. The young woman’s future mother-in-law was insisting that the woman and
her son move closer to her home. What was the problem with that? The young
woman claimed to be an Orthodox Jew, and she complained that if she moved
closer to her future mother-in-law’s home, then she would be too far away from
the synagogue. Instead of walking to Sabbath services, she would then have to
drive, which would be breaking the Sabbath law. — Dr. Laura couldn’t get the
young woman to understand the inconsistency between observing one tenet of her
faith, honoring the Sabbath, but not caring if she violated another — the
prohibition against living with her fiancé out of wedlock. It’s not unusual for
people to espouse one thing and to do something entirely different.
[Schlessinger, Dr. Laura. How Could You Do That?! (New York:
HarperPerennial, 1996), pp. 186-187.] Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
4) Move Christ from our lips to our hearts: In
1974, the top college basketball player in the country was a young man by the
name of Bill Walton. At six foot eleven, he dominated college basketball. He
took his team, UCLA, to their third consecutive NCAA championship, and in his
senior year went on to the NBA. Bill had some adjustments to make in the NBA,
and he didn’t make them very well. Then abruptly he left the game. He said his
heart was no longer in his playing. After some time had gone by, Bill Walton
came back. This time his heart was in his game, and he played like it. He led
the Portland Trailblazers to their first NBA championship. Then he moved on to
the Boston Celtics. Now he’s a television basketball announcer. — It makes all
the difference in the world if your heart is in what you’re doing! A lot of us
are trying to live our lives with our hearts in nothing or, we should say, with
nothing in our hearts. We have Christ on our lips, but He’s never made that
journey further down. That’s why we are bored. How do we move Christ from
our lips to our hearts? That is the question which today’s Gospel asks us. Fr.
Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
5) The world needs people who are on fire for Christ: William
Lloyd Garrison was the greatest Abolitionist this country has ever known. He
was a publisher of an anti-slavery newspaper called The Liberator.
Garrison was an angry man, angry with indignation caused by the unbelievably
inhumane treatment many of the slaves experienced. He hated slavery with
everything that was in him. One day one of his best friends, Samuel May, tried
to calm him down. He said to Garrison, “Oh, my friend, try to moderate your
indignation and keep more cool. Why, you are all on fire!” Garrison replied,
“Brother May, I have need to be all on fire, for I have mountains of ice around
me to melt.” — Well, the only way any of us can melt mountains of ice is to be
on fire. The only way Christ can use any of us is when we are driven by a great
passion, when we feel or hear Jesus’ Voice within our heart showing us a great
cause that needs to be championed. Nothing is accomplished in this world by
people who have no passion. They follow rituals and traditions without getting
converted and renewed. That’s one reason we need God in our hearts as
well as on our lips. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
6) Princess Diana versus Mother Teresa: Princes
Diana captured the imagination of the world. When she married in 1981, 700
million watched it in TV, and when she met with a tragic death on August
31, 1997, her funeral was watched by 2.5 billion people on TV. So it would not
be surprising if, on August 31, 2021 media made mention of the anniversary of
her passing. The media may recall that someone else who died twenty-four years
ago, a little nun in Calcutta known to the world as Mother Teresa. It has been
said that Mother Teresa chose the wrong week for her death, because it was
overshadowed by the death of the young princess. But maybe that’s the way it
should be. Nothing could better reflect how warped the values of the world are.
Mother Teresa wasn’t accompanied by a billionaire playboy when she passed from
this life to the celestial kingdom. She wasn’t being driven in a high-speed
luxury car. She lived and died serving the least and the lowest. She lived and
died glorifying God and serving her neighbor. — There’s nothing wrong with
little girls aspiring to grow up to be princesses. How much better, though, if
all of us aspired to be more like Mother Teresa! There’s nothing wrong with
pomp and circumstance. There’s not even anything wrong with ceremonies linked
to the washing of hands (even though doctors say a little dirt is good for
one), unless the ceremony of washing hands causes one to look down on those who
don’t observe such ceremonies, or unless one has clean hands but an impure
heart. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
7) The Fall: In Albert Camus’
novel The Fall, the central figure is a nameless lawyer
who tells his story to a stranger he meets in a Dutch bar. The anonymous lawyer
relates how he had always prided himself on being a selfless servant of
humanity, a man of noble virtue and generosity. But then one dark rainy
midnight, something happened to shatter his self-righteous image. As he was
walking home over a bridge, he passed by a slim young woman leaning over the
rail and staring into the river. Stirred by the sight of her, he hesitated a
moment, and then walked on. After crossing the bridge he heard a body striking
the water, a cry repeated several times, and then the midnight silence again.
He wanted to do something to save her, but stood there motionless for a while
and then went home. — The nameless lawyer in Camus’ story reminds us in some
ways of the Pharisees in today’s Gospel. The Pharisees were experts in the law
and prided themselves on their scrupulous observance of it. And yet Jesus
castigated them for their hypocrisy by quoting the prophet Isaiah: “This people
pay me lip service but their heart is far from me” (Albert
Cylwicki, His Word Resounds). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
8) “Oh yes, I believe in God, but I’m not nuts
about Him 1”A young coed being interviewed on television about her
religious beliefs said, “Oh yes, I believe in God, but I’m not nuts about Him!”
According to the Gallup Poll that is a good description of how most Americans
feel about God. Ninety-four percent of us believe in God. When it comes to
translating that belief into action, however, most of us are clearly not nuts
about Him. We have something in common with the Pharisees. Jesus once summed up
the Pharisees’ chief problem like this: “These people honor me with their
lips, but their hearts are far from me.” — There is a group kin to the
traditionalists that we might call Christian Secularists. This group is made up
of that host of nominally committed people who fill the rolls of most churches.
They bring their children to Sunday School. They use the Church to marry and
bury. They visit us at Christmas and at Easter. They are not atheists or
agnostics. They, like that young coed, believe in God, but they’re not nuts
about him. Today’s Gospel is Christ’s view about such followers. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
9) The great Potato Famine in Ireland: Between
1845 and 1849, the Great Potato Famine cruelly tortured Ireland and was
responsible for the slow starvation and deaths of tens of thousands of Irish
men, women and children. The blight that struck the beloved potato, the staple
crop of the tenant farmers, was a blight called phytophthora infestans.
As the disease decimated the potato crop, it assured bare tables and empty
stomachs for millions of working families who depended on the potato for the
filling, nourishing part of their daily diet. What was particularly cruel about
this potato blight was that it left the tubers looking unscathed on the
outside. The vegetables appeared large, firm, and hearty. But when cut open the
potato revealed the blight had consumed it from the inside. The potato would be
rotten, hollowed, soft and stinking from the center out to within a half-inch
of its outer skin. What had looked promising as a meal couldn’t even produce a
mouthful of unrotted pulpy flesh. The potatoes rotted from the inside out. —
This is exactly what the Bible means when it talks about original sin. We all
have this blight in our being that rots us from the inside out. So even if we
look great on the outside, and even if we tithe our lottery earnings and put
lots of people to work, our hidden hungers and deep desires within are our true
selves. Paul the Apostle said, “The good that I would, I do not, and
the evil that I would not, I do” (Rom 7:15). We all stand as lepers,
ritually unclean, standing in the need of grace and prayer. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
10) “Love Lifted Me” Clarence Jordan the founder
of Koinonia Farm, saw hypocrisy at work at an early age. His father was a
prosperous banker and merchant in a small Georgia town. They lived within one
hundred yards of the Talbot County jail. One hot summer night during a revival
meeting, Jordan noted how carried away the warden of the jail’s chain gang
became while singing, “Love Lifted Me.” He was inspired at how deeply the
prevailing spiritual atmosphere had impacted this man. Later that same night,
however, Jordan was awakened by agonizing groans coming from the direction of
the chain gang camp. He knew what was happening; he had heard these sounds
before. Someone had been placed into the “stretcher” and was being tortured. He
also knew only one person could be responsible for inflicting such torture: the
same man who had been singing “Love Lifted Me” with such great emotion and
conviction only hours before. — The realization tore at Jordan’s heart. He
identified with the man who was in agony and, as a result, became angry with
the Church as he understood it. Jordan didn’t reject his Faith or launch a
protest, however. He stuffed his anger deep inside until such time as he could
make a difference, which he certainly did in writing the Cotton Patch versions
of the New Testament and in founding Koinonia Farm. [Dr. William Mitchell and
Michael A. Mitchell, Building Strong Families: How Your Family Can
Withstand the Challenges of Today’s Culture (Nashville, Tennessee:
Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1997), p. 193.] Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
11) A little dirt is good for you: One leading
researcher, Dr. Joel V. Weinstock . . . said in an interview that the immune
system at birth “is like an unprogrammed computer. It needs instruction . . .
Children raised in an ultraclean environment,” he added, “are not being exposed
to organisms that help them develop appropriate immune regulatory circuits . .
. Children should be allowed to go barefoot in the dirt, play in the dirt, and
not have to wash their hands when they come in to eat,” he said. He pointed out
that children who grow up on farms are much less likely to develop allergies
and autoimmune diseases. Also helpful, he said, is to “let kids have two dogs
and a cat, which will expose them to intestinal worms that can promote a
healthy immune system.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27brod.html?ref=science).
— Some of us probably think the good doctor went a little too far, particularly
with regard to worms. However, the case seems fairly well made: a little dirt
is good for you. The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come
from Jerusalem saw some of Jesus’ disciples eating food with ritually unwashed
hands. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
12) “I was in awe, every time I walked onto the field.” In
2005, Ryne Sandberg was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame. Listen to how
he describes his devotion to the institution of professional baseball: “I was
in awe,” says Sandberg, “every time I walked onto the field. That’s respect. I
was taught you never, ever disrespect your opponents or your teammates or your
organization or your manager and never, ever, your uniform. You make a great
play, act like you’ve done it before; get a big hit, look for the third base
coach and get ready to run the bases.” Sandberg motioned to those inducted
before him, “These guys sitting up here did not pave the way for the rest of us
so that players could swing for the fences every time up and forget how to move
a runner over to third. It’s disrespectful to them, to you and to the game of
baseball that we all played growing up. Respect. A lot of people say this honor
validates my career,” said Ryne Sandberg, “but I didn’t work hard for
validation. I didn’t play the game right because I saw a reward at the end of
the tunnel. I played it right because that’s what you’re supposed to do, play
it right and with respect . . . If this validates anything, it’s that guys who
taught me the game . . . did what they were supposed to do, and I did what I
was supposed to do.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/opinion/27brooks.html?ref=opinion.)
— Many people would call Sandberg old-fashioned. And perhaps he is. But respect
for tradition is important for holding things together whether it is a game
like baseball, a culture, or a community of Faith, a Church. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
13) Don’t substitute rituals for authentic religion: In
Tony Campolo’s book Who Switched the Price Tags? Campolo says
that, as an evangelical Baptist teacher and preacher, one of the most serious
errors he made was to underestimate the value of ritual and tradition. From his
studies of the famous French sociologist, Emile Durkheim, Campolo discovered
how essential and vital “ritual is for the health and maintenance of any social
institution.” Studies have shown, for example, “that in the absence of
consistent ritual, families tend to fall apart morally and psychologically.”
(Rev. Eric S. Ritz). — Jesus was the Master didn’t want us to substitute
rituals for authentic religion or ceremonies for compassion toward others. Fr.
Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
14) Changing rules of the game: Jesus had a
knack for constantly changing the rules of the game of life in order to
incorporate a wider range of people in his Kingdom “net.” One sport where the
rules have occasionally been changed is volleyball. Volleyball is a
well-established game with rules which are basically understood by everyone who
plays. But many times we would have children playing the game who were either
handicapped or mentally retarded. In order to integrate these special children
into the game of volleyball, it was necessary to change the standing rules or
laws of the game. We would say that it was fair for the special children to
catch and throw the ball instead of having to volley the ball. This enabled all
of the children to be part of the game. –In our text Jesus was concerned that
all of God’s children be welcomed in His Kingdom life. And Jesus would go so
far as to change the rules and regulations and laws in order to integrate as
many of God’s children as possible. — The Pharisees and teachers used the law
to exclude people from the kingdom. This angered Jesus to the point of
remembering what Isaiah had written: “These people honor Me with their
words, but their heart is really far away from Me.” Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
15) Where are your sheep? In the late 1960s a
soldier returned from Vietnam with a war bride. They made their home in rural
Virginia. And they went to Church. He was suffering post-battle stress syndrome
and drinking heavily. She was Asian, lonely, and struggling to understand
American society. The town shunned her. She was “different.” It was whispered
she’d gotten pregnant to trap a husband and escape Saigon. People would not let
their children play with hers. No one called her on her phone. She grew
depressed and finally killed her child and herself. — At her funeral the Lord
asked the pastor, “Where are your sheep?” He gave no reply. The Lord asked a
second time, “Where are your sheep?” And the pastor said, “I don’t have any
sheep. I have a pack of wolves!” — What of us? What of us? Will we be Jesus’
lambs or self-made wolves? The one is the product of grace, the other of demons
and self. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
16) You are a Pharisee: You might be a Pharisee
— if you’ve ever shouted, “Amen!” more than 51 times during a single sermon on
somebody else’s sin; if you think the only music God listens to is at least 100
years old; if you’re sure nobody has ever had to forgive you; if your black leather
Bible is so big it takes two hands to hold it up! You might be a Pharisee — if
you think the world would be a better place if everyone were just like you; if
you think Jesus might have overstepped His bounds when He turned water into
wine; if you think big hair is a sign of holiness; if you go to Church to prove
you’re good! That is why Jesus issues three bewares to his disciples: “Beware
the leaven of the Herodians” (Mk 8:15), “Beware the
leaven of the Sadducees” (Mt 16:6) and “Beware the
leaven of the Pharisees,” (Mt 16:6). You are a Pharisee —
if have faith in your ideas and traditions about God instead of a relationship
with the Living God; if you inclined to see what’s wrong with everything; if
have a martyr complex; if you crave recognition; if you believe you are closer
to God than others; if you have a “That’s him!” attitude; if you are constantly
wallowing in guilt with the feeling that you can never measure up; if you are
repulsed by emotional extravagance; if you glory in the past; if you are
addicted to self-help pop-psychology; if you bring division instead of
lasting works; if you don’t take correction; if you believe you have been
appointed by God to fix everything; if your prayer life is mechanical; if you
believe you are on the cutting edge; if you are bossy; if you are intolerant,
merciless, and take pride in downward comparisons; if you are suspicious of new
movements; if you are offended when you are addressed without the use of a
proper title; and if you glory in anything but Jesus and the cross. Fr.
Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
17) White shoes in Summer: There was an amusing
incident several years ago when the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, visited
Houston, Texas. When the Duchess made her first public appearance in Houston
she wore a summer dress and matching white shoes. Now a summer dress can be
appropriate attire in November in Texas, but every good Southern belle knows
you don’t wear white shoes after Labor Day. It simply isn’t done. Fergie’s
fashion faux pas caused an uproar. It was the hot topic on all
the news shows and radio shows in Houston. Finally, the Duchess’ press
secretary actually had to issue a press release explaining that this custom was
unheard of in England. [Schwartz, Marilyn. A Southern Belle Primer (New
York: Doubleday, 1991), p. 21.] — Some traditions are just plain silly, like
expressing dismay at someone wearing white shoes in November. Others can be
sinful, like washing your hands to demonstrate to others your piety, when
really your heart is far from God. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
18) Sleeping Beauty’s Castle: The
centerpiece of Disney World, its most familiar icon, is the beautiful Sleeping
Beauty’s Castle. Its tall towers, fluttering banners, imposing size, and
fairy-tale perfection draw every child (and isn’t that all of us?) towards it.
But at Disney World, with all its technological wizardry and attention to
detail, that centerpiece castle is a disappointment to first-time visitors. At
least it was for me. Far from being filled with magical nooks and crannies,
secret staircases, vast ballrooms and airy aeries to gaze out at the rest of
the “magic kingdom” Sleeping Beauty’s Castle is empty. The castle is a hollow
shell. The castle’s function is simply to serve as a portal into the Magic
Kingdom, which loses some of its magic as soon as it becomes apparent that the
castle is nothing more than a glorified archway. The outward appearance is all
deception. Sleeping Beauty’s Castle has no heart of its own. — Jesus wants to
transform you this morning from the inside out, not from the outside in.
Whatever the hollowed-out areas of your life, Jesus wants to fill them in with
his presence and power. Jesus wants to give you a new heart a heart of Faith, a
heart of Hope, a heart of Love. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
19) “No-drownings” celebration in New Orleans: In
1985 there was a celebration in New Orleans. New Orleans is a town known for
celebrating, but this was a special kind of celebration. Sponsored by the city,
it was a celebration at the municipal pool in New Orleans. The city’s life
guards and support personnel were commemorating the first summer in memory with
no drownings in the pools of that city. Two hundred people showed up for that
party; one hundred of them were certified life guards. They had a great time,
but as the party broke up, and the four life guards on duty for the occasion
cleared the water, they found a fully dressed body in the deep end of the pool.
Jerome Moody, age 31, had drowned right in the midst of the celebration. They
tried in vain to revive him. [Jon Tal Murphree, Made To Be Mastered,
(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1984).] — When I read that, I
wondered to myself if it might be possible, right here in the body of Christ,
right here with all the certified life guards – Sunday School teachers,
officers of the church, choir members, pastors and all — could it be possible
that there is someone who is drowning? Someone who is hurting so inside that
there has come a barrier between him/her and God? He/she is one of the walking
wounded. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
20) “Freedom of choice is the right to hate”: The
December 1998 issue of Life magazine carried a full-page
picture of a group of about a dozen protestors. These people with twisted and
angry faces were not protesting at the White House or in front of a military
base. They were protesting at a funeral. One of them held a sign which read in
big letters: “FREEDOM OF CHOICE IS THE RIGHT TO HATE.” They were protesting at
the October 16, 1998 funeral of Matthew Shephard, the 21-year-old gay student
beaten to death and hanged cross-like on a fence in Laramie, Wyoming. After
such a terrible crime, could they not at least allow Matthew’s family and
friends to mourn in peace? — I wonder if the people protesting at Matthew
Shephard’s funeral considered themselves Christians. If so, I wonder how they
justified their hatred–regardless of how they might have felt about Shephard’s
lifestyle. Even on the cross, Jesus forgave His enemies. How could they
possibly justify hatred in Jesus’ name? But that’s what happens when your lips
are one place and your heart is somewhere else. You can use religion to mask a
heart filled with evil. You can use religion as a weapon against those whom you
despise. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
21) Do we stand for God? Centuries ago in one of
the Egyptian monasteries, a man came and asked to be admitted. The abbot told
him that the chief rule was obedience, and the man promised to be patient on
all occasions, even under excessive provocation. It chanced that the abbot was
holding a dried-up willow stick in his hands; he forthwith fixed the dead stick
into the earth and told the newcomer to water it until, against all rules of
nature, it should once again become green. Obediently the new monk walked two
miles every day to the river Nile to bring a vessel of water on his shoulders
and water the dry stick. A year passed by and he was still faithful to his
task, though very weary. Another year and still he toiled on. Well into the
third year he was still trudging to the river and back, still watering the
stick, when suddenly it burst into life.–The green bush alive today is a living
witness to the mighty virtues of obedience and faith. (F. H. Drinkwater in Quotes
and Anecdotes; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
22) The Wrongs of Rites: A disciple
once boasted about the effectiveness of his prayers and pilgrimages. His Guru
advised him to take a bitter gourd along with him on his pilgrimage to place at
every altar, to dip into every holy river and to be blessed at every shrine.
When the disciple returned, the Guru reverently conducted a liturgy with the
bitter gourd, cut it into pieces, and distributed it as sacramental food.
Tasting it he declared, “Isn’t it surprising that all the prayers, pujas and
pilgrimages, have not reduced the bitterness of this gourd?” — Many people
spend much time discussing rectitude of rituals and reinforcement of rites.
Isn’t it time to stop fighting about rites and rituals and begin fighting for
the rights of those orphans and widows mentioned in the Scripture? (Francis
Gonsalves in Sunday Seeds for Daily Deeds: quoted by Fr. Botelho).
Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
23) Their heart is not in it…A man died
recently and went to Heaven. He was very happy up there, as he wandered about,
exploring the place. One Sunday morning he bumped into Jesus (it could happen
up there, just as sure as down here!). Jesus called him over to show him
something. He opened a sort of trap door in the floor of Heaven, so that the man
could look through, and see even as far as the earth below. Eventually, Jesus
got him to focus his attention on a Church, his own local Church at home, where
there was a full congregation at Mass. The man watched for a while, and then
something began to puzzle him. He could see the priest moving his lips, and
turning over the pages. He could see the choir holding their hymnals, and the
organist thumping the keyboards. But he couldn’t hear a sound. It was total
silence. Thinking that the amplification system in heaven had broken down, he
turned to Jesus for an explanation. Jesus looked at him in surprise. “Didn’t
anybody ever tell you? We have a rule here that if they don’t do those things
down there with their hearts, we don’t hear them up here at all!” (Jack McArdle
in And That’s the Gospel Truth! Quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr.
Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
24) Pursuit of enemy not hindered by prayer: Barclay’s
second story is about a Muslim pursuing an enemy to kill him. In the midst of
the pursuit, the Azan, or public call to prayer, sounded. Instantly the Muslim
got off his horse, unrolled his prayer mat, knelt down and prayed the required
prayers as fast as he could. Then he leaped back on his horse to pursue his
enemy in order to kill him. — Jesus opposes this type of legalism in the Jewish
religion in today’s Gospel. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
25) Be doers of the word: St Fidelis, a martyr
from southern Germany who died in 1622, is a good example. • Fidelis began his
professional life as a brilliant and effective lawyer. • From the way he
practiced law, he accrued a reputation for honesty, integrity, and
effectiveness. • But his colleagues’ habitual dishonesty and self-seeking
disgusted him so much that he left his career and became a Capuchin friar. • He
put his lawyering skills to work in a heavy load of preaching, hearing
confessions, and organizing care for the sick, many of whom he cured with miracles.
• Everywhere he went whole towns were renewed in an energetic adherence to
Christ and his Church. • When he and eight companions were sent to bring the
Zwinglians (a branch of early Protestantism) of western Switzerland back into
the Catholic fold, his mission met with similar success. • Too much success,
maybe. • Soon the local leaders had had enough and roused the peasants against
him. • They attempted to shoot him while he was preaching but missed. • Then
they ambushed him on the road and beat him to death when he wouldn’t renounce
his Catholic Faith. • The prayers for his attackers that escaped from his dying
lips converted a Zwinglian minister who witnessed the martyrdom. If we live our
Faith from the inside out, not only putting on a show, we will find the
happiness we seek, and help others find it too. (E-Priest) Fr.
Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
26) Lip Service: A story is told of a Moslem
who, while pursuing a man with an upraised knife to kill him, heard the
muezzin’s call to prayer from the minaret. He stopped, extended his prayer rug,
said his prescribed prayers, and then continued his original pursuit after the
man he wished to kill. He had said his prayers now he could go about his sordid
business. — Unfortunately, changing what has to be changed, the same could be
observed of some Christians, who while pursuing their sinful activities, may
stop to attend Church services before getting back to their same old sinful
pursuits. (Anonymous; quoted by Fr. Botelho). Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
26) They saw that she was no sham: On Commencement Day, June 10, 1982, Harvard University conferred honorary degrees on twelve men and women. One of them was Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her care of “the poorest of the poor.” The little nun was also chosen to give the Harvard Class Day address. It is reported that she was the third choice of the senior class. They had first invited actor Alan Alda, who had declined; and then Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who had also declined. To use an old expression, the seniors had “shot at the goose and hit the gander.” Mother Teresa, whose English is slightly accented but excellent, “spoke with an almost mesmerizing conviction.” As usual she was direct, positive and Christian in her remarks. She told the members of the large graduating class that virginity is “the most beautiful thing a young man and a young woman can give each other.” Make a resolution,” she said, “that on your wedding day you can give each other something beautiful.” “But,” she added, “if a mistake has been made, have the courage to accept the child. Do not destroy it. That sin is murder.” Harvard Magazine commented, “What she said struck many listeners as anomalous in Harvard Yard on Class Day.” That is putting it mildly. But it was a tribute to this great university’s intellectual honesty that Mother Teresa “received a long, standing ovation from the unusually large crowd come to hear a saintly woman.” The same thing happened at commencement when she was praised for setting “an example of compassionate generosity that awakens the conscience of the world.” The commencement audience gave her another standing ovation. — Why should sophisticated audiences like these have hailed a nun who brought them back to basic principles? Simply because they saw she was no sham. By carefully living up to the law of God, she had “given evidence of her wisdom and intelligence to the nations.” (Dt 4:4. Today’s first reading.) -Father Robert Fr. McNamara. Fr. Tony (http://frtonyshomilies.com/).
All that stopped in the next instant as the Queen, Victoria, silently took her finger bowl in her two hands, lifted it, and drank its contents! A moment later 500 surprised British ladies and gentlemen simultaneously drank the contents of their own fingerbowls.
The only way Christ can use any of us is when we are driven by a great passion, when we feel or hear his voice within our heart showing us a great cause that needs to be championed. Nothing is accomplished in this world by people who have no passion. That's one reason we need God in our hearts as well as on our lips.
Rev. David Chadwell posed a rather interesting question: Which would you prefer for a next-door neighbor: a person of excellent habits or a person with a good heart? Which would you prefer for a good friend: a person of excellent habits, or a person with a good heart? Which would you prefer for a husband or a wife: a person of excellent habits, or a person with a good heart? Which would you prefer for a child: a child with excellent habits, or a child with a good heart?
The only way Christ can use any of us is when we are driven by a great passion, when we feel or hear his voice within our heart showing us a great cause that needs to be championed. Nothing is accomplished in this world by people who have no passion. That's one reason we need God in our hearts as well as on our lips.
Tradition is a powerful thing. The Pharisees had learned to substitute tradition, custom, habit for the presence of the living God. Traditionalism rears its head in many ways, in many times and in many places.
