Ash Wednesday, Cycle B - February 17, 2021

 [Instead of a homily for the First Sunday of Lent, today I am posting the homily of Ash Wednesday.] 

 

Ash Wednesday

Cycle B

February 17, 2021

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 8:30am

Bon Secours Retreat and Conference Center, Marriottsville 11am

 

Genesis: A Living Conversation 

 

I imagine most of us know of Bill Moyers.

 

Moyers has been an American journalist and author for over fifty years. In the 1990s, he did a PBS Series and then a book entitled Genesis: A Living Conversation.

 

In Genesis, Bill Moyers recalls an old rabbinic story. The story goes that every morning, this faithful Jewish man would write on a piece of paper these words: “I am dust and ashes.”

 

He would then fold the paper and place it in his pocket. Several times throughout the day, he would take the paper out of his pocket and read those words: “I am dust and ashes.”

 

These, you may know, are the words of Abraham in the Book of Genesis. For this man, they served as a prayerful remembrance of his need to be humble before God.

 

One day, this Jewish man showed the paper to his rabbi. The rabbi was moved by the man’s reverence.

 

But, the rabbi took out a second piece of paper and wrote these words: “For my sake, the universe was created.” The rabbi then said to this man: “Take these words… and carry them too.

 

“Let there be a balance in your life. Realize that of yourself, before God, you are nothing – but because you are created in God’s image, out of love, you possess the greatest dignity imaginable: you are a child of God.”

 

A Living Conversation

 

So, the rabbi affirmed the words from Genesis: “I am dust and ashes.”

 

And then, he added his own words, born from years of meditation on the Scripture: “For my sake, the universe was created.” From this comes the title of the PBS Series and the book: Genesis: A Living Conversation.

 

A Balance

 

For us, right now, Lent is to be a time for striking the balance that the rabbi encouraged.

 

Yes, “I am dust and ashes.” And yes, “For my sake, the universe was created.”

 

So, when we are consumed with our own plans and desire to be in control, or when we become self-absorbed because of what we possess or have achieved, we should take out the first paper and remember: “I am dust and ashes.”

 

This will keep us centered on Christ and growing in God’s image and likeness. 

 

And then, when we feel down on ourselves and less than others, or when we see much darkness and no hope, let’s take out the second paper and remember: “For my sake, the universe was created.”

 

That also will keep us centered on Christ and growing in God’s image and likeness. 

 

Today let’s allow the ashes placed on our forehead and the Eucharist that we will receive help us to keep the balance proposed by that rabbi. That will help us to become what each of us already is: “the greatest dignity imaginable…a child of God.”

 

 

 

6th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B - February 14, 2021

 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Cycle B

February 14, 2021

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 8:30am 

Saint Mary Parish, Pylesville 11:30am

 

 Circle and Sphere 

 

Two expressions: Circle of Concern and Sphere of Influence. 

 

I heard these terms recently in a presentation that I was listening to. Circle of Concern and Sphere of Influence. 

 

The presenter said that our Circle of Concern can be very big, almost as big as we want. It can include people and issues around the entire world.

 

Our Sphere of Influence is much smaller. It includes the area of life where we can really make a difference.

 

An important factor to keep in mind is that if we put too much of our energy and resources into our Circle of Concern, we might end up feeling frustrated. We might feel little sense of accomplishment. 

 

And so, we need to make sure that we put enough of our energy and resources into our Sphere of Influence. We need to put ourselves into the persons or needs where we can probably make a difference. 

 

Jesus’ Circle and Sphere 

 

I thought of all of this as I looked at today’s gospel.

 

Jesus has a big Circle of Concern. In fact, it is universal.

 

He wants to reach out to everyone on this earth. In recent weeks and again today, we have been listening to the Gospel of Mark.

 

Mark shows Jesus moving beyond the Jewish community – to the Gentiles, in other words, to all non-Jews. This is a sign of his universal Circle of Concern.

 

At the same time, Jesus is careful to devote his attention to his Sphere of Influence – to the here and now where he can make a difference. So, today, he listens to the plea of this one person, a leper.

 

The man says, “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Jesus responds, “I do will it. Be made clean.”

 

Notice the influence that Jesus has. He heals the man of his leprosy, but more than that, he makes him “clean.”

 

Besides being a physical disease, leprosy was seen as making people unclean, and it excluded them from the community. It excluded them from living among others, and even from praying with others in the temple. 

 

So, by making this man “clean,” Jesus re-includes him in the community. This including of others is something that Jesus often does in his Sphere of Influence. 

 

Our Circle and Sphere 

 

All of this leads me to think about us.

 

Like Jesus, we are to have a universal Circle of Concern. This means, for example, that we are concerned with the oppression in parts of central America, with racial justice in our own country, and with our global environment.

 

So, we are to have this big Circle of Concern. But we also need to make sure that we attend to our Sphere of Influence.

 

This has to start with our families and extended families. And then, it also includes doing something in our local community or parish that will make a difference. 

 

For example, Our Lady of Grace Parish supports Assisi House in Baltimore. Your doing this really makes a difference.

 

Monsignor Hannon told me that he was standing in line for a vaccine shot the other day. The man behind him spoke up and said, “Thank you for all that your parish does for Assisi House. It is making a big difference.”

 

Monsignor Hannon told me that he did not recognize this man. He had a cap on and was wearing a mask.

 

And then he realized that this was Bishop Lewandowski – one of the auxiliary bishops of Baltimore. So, you have Assisi House in your Sphere of Influence, and you are making a difference.

 

I want to add that right now the Annual Appeal for Catholic Ministries is in process. Probably you have already received a mailing on this.

 

This is way to exert our influence on a lot of other ministries and services, like Assisi House. It can be part of our Sphere of Influence. 

 

Conclusion 

 

So, a Circle of Concern and a Sphere of Influence.

 

Let’s keep these two things in mind as we read about Jesus in the gospels, and as we think about how we use our energy and resources.

5th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle B - February 7, 2021

 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Cycle B

February 7, 2021

Saint Mary Parish, Pylesville 8am

Our Lady of Grace Parish, Parkton 11am 

 

 “I Can Have Complaints”

 

One day back in the 1970’s, before the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, a Hungarian man went to the police station in Budapest; he was seeking permission to emigrate to Western Europe.

 

The officer asked, “Aren’t you happy here?” The Hungarian replied, “I have no complaints.”

 

Again, the officer asked, “Are you dissatisfied with your work?” And again, the man replied, “I have no complaints.”

 

Once more the officer asked, “Are you dissatisfied with your living conditions?” And once more the Hungarian replied, “I have no complaints.”

 

Finally, the officer asked, “Then, why do you want to go to the West?” And the man replied, “Because there, I can have complaints.”

 

Job’s and Our Sufferings 

 

That story helps us to get into today’s first reading.  

 

This book is about a man named Job who is something like a lot of us. He has a pretty good job and is living comfortably.  

 

Job and his wife are happily married and are blessed with children. But then, it all falls apart.  

 

Job loses his business and goes into bankruptcy. His children are killed, his wife dies, and Job himself contracts a chronic, painful disease.

 

And all of this happens quickly, one thing right after another. As individuals, we may not have experienced all of these sufferings, but the truth is that suffering touches each one of us.

 

Maybe we know that especially in these days. Covid or other sicknesses, the death of a loved one, an addiction, emotional, financial or family problems – sufferings like these can affect all of us.

 

Job’s and Our Complaints 

 

In our Old Testament story, Job is something like that man in Budapest.

 

He has complaints and he complains to God. “Why?  Why is this happening to me?”

 

Some of Job’s friends tell him that his sufferings are there because God is 1) testing his faith or 2) punishing him for sin. Job will not accept these traditional, standard explanations.  

 

He cannot believe that the good, loving God would inflict such evil 1) either as a test 2) or as a punishment. And beyond that, Job knows that he has been living a good and not a sinful life and doesn’t deserve punishment. 

 

So, what happens? God eventually speaks to Job and asks him two questions.

 

“Do you have the power that I have? And do you have the wisdom that I have?”

 

Job gets the point. He realizes that God’s power and wisdom far surpass his own.

 

Job realizes that God is a mystery, that human life is a mystery, and that suffering is a mystery. With trust in God, he begins to accept his suffering as the mystery that it is.

 

An Invaluable Lesson

 

This story is as alive for us today as it was for Job.

 

For a long time, Job seeks understanding through reason. He keeps asking “Why?” and gets no satisfactory answer.

 

The change comes when God guides Job to seek understanding or acceptance through faith. Only then does Job gain some inner peace by entrusting himself to the mystery of God.

 

Today, we are a bit more fortunate than Job because Jesus has shed a bit more light on the mystery of suffering. This additional light is summed up in two sentences from St. Paul.

 

Paul says, “The sufferings of the present cannot be compared to the glory that will be revealed.” In other words, there is no guarantee of fairness on this earth.

 

But there is a guarantee of fairness in resurrected life with God. That is a new and major insight.

 

And then Paul also says, “In my flesh I make up what is lacking in Christ’s sufferings.” Paul’s point is that Jesus begins the process of salvation through his suffering.

 

Now we can join our sufferings to his. We can allow them to be redemptive in some way and to contribute to the salvation of ourselves and our world.

 

These additional insights do not remove suffering or its mystery. But they do give our suffering some purpose and help us deal with it as persons of faith.

Friday of the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle B - January 29, 2021

 (This weekend, deacons are preaching at the two parishes where I assist. Therefore, I am sending a weekday homily which I gave this past Friday.)

 

Friday of the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time 

January 29, 2021  11am

Bon Secours Retreat and Conference Center 

 

Readings:   Hebrews 10:32-39

                  Mark 4:26-34

 

This morning I am really taken by the messages in the first parable of the gospel.

The image is the seed and its power.

The seed that is planted has an intrinsic power of its own to grow.

It grows imperceptibly, slowly, and sprouts little by little.

The farmer can water, weed, and fertilize the soil, but he cannot make the seed grow and sprout.

They cannot make the ripe grain appear a day before its appointed time.

They don’t really know how this happens and cannot really control it.

The farmer 1) needs trust that it can and will happen, and also 2) needs patience for waiting for it to happen.

 

So, with this image and parable, Jesus teaches that the kingdom of God is a divine work, not a human achievement. 

We cooperate, but we cannot control the growth and maturing of the kingdom. 

Ultimately, it is God who brings about its growth within us, within others to whom we relate or minister, and within our entire society.

It is especially good for me and for all of us in Church ministry to remember this.

Maybe it is also good for parents to remember this in relation to their children.

Often, we just don’t know the effect of what we say or do for others.

Occasionally, we see this immediately; sometimes, we see this some months or a few years down the road; sometimes, we never know the effect.

We simply need to cooperate with God and then leave the rest up to God.

 

I see the parable as doing two things for us: 1) encouraging us and 2) cautioning us.

The parable serves as an encouragement for us when we think that our efforts have been fruitless.

It also serves as a caution when we think that we can bring about the kingdom by our own efforts and programs and plans.