11th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C - June 12, 2016

11th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Cycle C

June 12, 2016                        9:00am and 11:100am Masses

Saint Margaret Parish, Bel Air

Our Shadows

This morning, let’s think for a minute about shadows.

Just imagine that the sun is back there in the sky and there is no wall.  If I am standing here with my back to the sun, my body will cast a shadow and I will see it.

But, if I stand facing the sun like this, my shadow will be behind me.  It is still there, but I just don’t see it and may not even be aware of it.

Our Shadows and God

Now, let’s take this a step farther and think of our physical shadow as something that I am not proud of.  Maybe it is a trait or habit, like verbally putting down certain people all the time.

And then, let’s think of the sun as God, as Jesus who is the light of the world.  Now notice this – it is probably obvious.

I only see my shadow when I have my back turned to the sun – to Jesus.  When I do that, I may be focused on my shadow and may even be living out of it.

But when I am facing the sun, Jesus, my shadow doesn’t disappear.  It is still there, but I am not focused on it and am probably not living out of it.

In fact, I am focused on the light and the way of Jesus.  And I am probably living out of that.

Today’s Gospel

This is a helpful way to understand today’s gospel story.

The woman in the gospel has come to terms with her shadow and has turned to Jesus.  Her shadow remains part of her, but it is in a sense behind her.

She experiences Jesus’ forgiveness and moves beyond the shadow.  With that in mind, I see three lessons here.

Lesson 1: Everyone Has Shadows

The first is that we all have a shadow.

In the gospel, the man named Simon disdains the unnamed, so-called sinful woman.  Because of that, Jesus tells the parable about a creditor and debtors and his point is that we all need forgiveness for something.

It may be little or great, but it is there – our shadow.  I see this as a basic truth that we all need to admit.

Lesson 2: Face Jesus/ the Sun

The second lesson is that we all need to turn and face the sun or God.

We can do this in various ways.  For example, we have the Penitential Prayer at the beginning of every Mass.

Here we can consistently, every week, bring to God the trait or habit that is our shadow.  And here God forgives us and empowers us to move on – just as Jesus does with the woman in the gospel.

Our shadow will still be there, but it is in a sense behind us.  We are empowered not to live out of it any longer.

Lesson 3: Don’t Look at Others’ Shadows

And the third lesson is that we need to be careful not to get focused on the shadows of others.

Notice that when we are facing God, the sun, we might still be able to see the shadows of others.  But we should not get focused on them.

This is what Simon is doing in the gospel.  He thinks he is facing God, but he is really focused on the woman’s shadow and ends up being very full of himself.

In focusing on the shadow of the woman, Simon is really acting out of his own shadow of holding himself above others.  So, a telltale sign of living in our own shadow even when we think we are facing God, the sun, is when we get focused on the shadows of others.

We need to be aware of this.  It is important just to face the light, Jesus, and live out of that and not look at the shadows of others. 

Conclusion

So, a powerful lesson about our shadows this morning!

10th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle C - June 5, 2016

10th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Cycle C

June 5, 2016   4:00 and 6:00pm

Saint Margaret Parish, Bel Air

Readings:   I Kings 17.17-24

                  Galatians 1.11-19

                  Luke 7.11-17

Imagine a Society…

This afternoon, for just a minute, let’s try to imagine, just imagine a society where women have no rights.

Imagine that women cannot have a house titled to their name.  Imagine that they cannot have a bank account or pension or social security in their name.

Now imagine that a woman in that society is married and her husband dies.  The house and any money that she and her husband had are no longer hers.

Instead, they go to her husband’s, her husband’s closest male relative.  So if this woman and her husband have a son, all the assets go to him.

If they do not have a son, or if they have a son and he also dies, the house and whatever they have go to some other male relative of the husband – maybe his brother or nephew.  The woman is left penniless.

Now this sounds crazy, very patriarchal and very unjust to us.  But that’s the way it was in the society of Jesus’ day.

Restoring Both to Life

And this is the context for today’s gospel.

A young man has died – and catch what the passage says – he was the only son of a widowed mother.  So this woman has lost her husband, and now loses her son, her only son.

The result is that she is also losing everything she had to live on.  She too is as good as dead. 

Jesus recognizes this and so he exerts his divine power.  He miraculously restores the young man to life.

And in doing that, he actually restores this woman to life.  He makes life possible for her again and in this way he restores both of them to life.

Jesus Cherishes Life

This story shows Jesus’ consistent approach.

Jesus cherishes human life.  He heals and restores to life.

He sustains human life – physically, emotionally and spiritually – we would say, holistically.  And Jesus’ example forms the basis of our human life ethic.

Our ethic is a holistic respect for human life.  We see it as a gift from God, in fact, even as a participation in God’s life.

So to respect human life means that we do whatever we can to care for the life of all human beings.  Our ethic is that sweeping.

Application of Life Ethic

For example, we respect the life of an unborn child.  We respect this as human life, the life of an unborn person.

Our ethic moves us to provide shelter for the homeless and food for the hungry.  It moves us to devise ways to give persons trapped in poverty a chance – through education or job training or whatever. 

Our ethic calls us to assure effective access to health care for every person because you and I and everyone need it.  It calls us to respect the life even of one who has taken the life of another. 

And it calls us to be very careful in judging whether warfare is justified and, if so, what kind of military action is justified.  Even this is part of our human life ethic.  

A Conclusion

I suppose it can be challenging to live this fully.

So, we work at it and do our best.  I do believe that one caution is worth noting.

We make a mistake if we focus on just one area of life.  We make a mistake when we single out just one life issue as if the others do not matter as much. 

When we do this, we actually reduce our positive ethic of life – and it is a positive ethic.  We reduce it to an anti-abortion or anti-poverty or anti-war ethic and this ends up having a negative effect on every aspect of our ethic.

Jesus in the gospel restores life to both persons – the son and the widowed mother.  We too are to care for the life of all.

Graduation Mass, Cycle C - June 3, 2016

Graduation Mass

Saint Margaret Parish School 8^th Grade

June 3, 2016

Readings:   Colossians 3.12, 15-17

                  Matthew 25.14-21

An Experience of Mine

In my first assignment as a priest, my main responsibility was youth ministry.

It was a large parish and I was to work with the youth, especially those in their high school years.  In that parish, there were lots of teens.

What I quickly learned was that some of them, actually a lot of them were going in the wrong direction.  They were hanging on the streets at night and getting into trouble.

Many of them were into drugs – starting with marihuana for the younger ones and getting into other, more harmful drugs as they got older.  There were about 100 youth in this “group.”

To make a long story short, I eventually got to know these young people.  And two things became very clear to me.

1) These kids had good potential and were basically good kids.  And 2), I as priest had to do something and had to meet them on their terms, where they were.

Well, with the grace of God, a small team of young adults about my age – I was in my mid-twenties at that time – a group emerged to work with me.  We opened and operated a drop-in center three nights a week and here came the key learning.

These young people, roughly ages fourteen to nineteen, they just needed to have their talents directed.  In other words, we adults needed to guide them into the good use of their time and gifts.

Little by little we offered a variety of activities inside and outside of the drop-in center, at night and during the day.  And little by little, we saw a great change.

Many of them who had been searching, experimenting, lost and getting into trouble – they found themselves.  They started going in really good directions.

And the basis, the key to all of that was, in a way, simple.  They needed to spend their time using their God-given gifts well and and that’s where they found real satisfaction and fulfillment.

Eighth Grade Graduates

Okay, you eighth grade graduates here this evening are very different from those young people I worked with forty-four years ago.

You have done good things with your gifts and talents.  I saw some of them recognized at the Middle School assembly the other morning.

You are not lost.  You are not going in the wrong or harmful direction.

But, the story of my past experience helps to illustrate the points I want to leave you with as you leave Saint Margaret’s and go on to high school.  Here is what I am thinking.

Lessons as You Go Forth

Number One.  Keep using the talents and gifts God has given you.  Each one of you is talented, so just stay focused on using your gifts.

Number Two.  You have a variety of talents: in math, science, fine arts, sports, language, social studies, public speaking, cheer-leading, and on it goes.  Just recognize your gifts – and I am saying gifts and not gift because I think you all have more than one gift. 

Number three.  Be comfortable with your own gifts.  Each person, each one of us is different, we don’t have to be like the next guy, and we can just be at peace with our own gifts.

Number Four.  If you focus on developing your gifts well, you will experience satisfaction and fulfillment in life.  You will be heeding God’s call and that’s the lesson of Jesus’ parable in tonight’s gospel.

And Number Five.  Wherever you go to high school and whatever you do, just remember the words of Saint Paul tonight.  Relate to others with respect and be compassionate with persons in need.

If you do this, you will create a good future for both yourselves and others.  And you will be the kind of person God calls all of us to be. 

Feast of the Visitation of Mary, Cycle C - May 31, 2016

Feast of the Visitation of Mary

May 31, 2016       6:30am

Readings:   Zephaniah 3.14-18

                  Luke 1.39-56

 

One of our Scripture experts comments that we have somewhat embellished the scene in today’s gospel by calling it a “visitation.”

We name today the Feast of the Visitation of Mary.

This Scripture expert says that in truth, this was a visit.

Mary, an ordinary person, did not arrive in Elizabeth’s village with a motorcade.

There was no ceremonial welcome by the mayor of the town.

There were no press people or others gathered around.

This was a simple visit.

And this visit includes what other real-life, personal visits include or should include.

Mary and Elizabeth are cousins and they get caught up with each other.

They talk and share about their amazing pregnancies – Elizabeth’s unexpected because of her older age, and Mary’s miraculous because it has happened through the direct action of God.

So they talk and share, undistracted by their cell phones or text messages.

And because of this personal interaction, they are caring for one another.

Elizabeth prayerfully praises God’s action in Mary and Mary’s trusting response to God.

Mary responds to that with her beautiful prayer that we call the Magnificat, the Latin word for the first words of the prayer – “My soul proclaims.”

And then Mary responds to Elizabeth by staying with her for three months, apparently until she delivered her baby.

I think it is important not to overlook the human, personal dimension of this simple visit.

Maybe it has some ingredients that we need to be reminded of in our interactions with one another.

Communicating, sharing, and responding to the person we are with right now – that is what we mean by visiting one another.

It is a valuable way of relating to one another and of living out the gospel.